In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 357 Battle of Xiazhou
Xiazhou is about five hundred miles away from Zhongxing Prefecture.

During the Xixia period, this area was considered a population center because there were several state capitals such as Yinzhou, Yanzhou, and Longzhou within about a hundred miles around.

Later, the Mongolian army invaded on a large scale, massacred the Dangxiang people, and successively conquered various states. Many of the Xixia population were killed.

After the Mongols destroyed Xixia, Han, Mongols, and Khitan people gradually moved in from various places. In just a few years, the local area regained a lot of popularity.

When Meng Gong led the Sichuan army to conquer Xiazhou, the city had a population of more than 1 households, 5 to [-] people, and countless cattle, horses, and sheep.

In early April of the eighth year of Baoqing, Meng Gong led more than 5 Song troops, more than 3 civilians, [-] horses and mules (including [-] war horses), [-] transport horses and mules, and [-] carriages, passing through Fengxiang and Sichuan. The Yellow River entered the territory of the original Xixia, and at the same time a large number of sentries and cavalry were sent to explore the direction of the Mongolian army.

In mid-April, the sentinels discovered that the Mongolian army had gathered in large numbers and headed towards Suzhou. Meng Gong immediately went to Zhongxing Mansion with all his troops, making a posture of attacking Zhongxing Mansion.

The soldiers and horses of the Song Army moved relatively slowly because there were more civilians, carriages, baggage and artillery, and they also deliberately delayed.

The main purpose of the Song army was to lure Kuoduan's [-] troops over.

Meng Gong also made two preparations. If Kuo Duan was not fooled, or if Kuo Duan divided his troops into two groups and went all the way to help Chagatai attack Meng Ying, Meng Gong would also divide his troops into two groups.

Sure enough, Kuo Duan was fooled immediately. After discovering that a large number of Song troops entered Xixia, he directly changed direction and the whole army came to attack Meng Gong.

Meng Gong saw that Kuoduan had been deceived, and the entire army suddenly turned eastward, heading towards Xiazhou, preparing to attack Yanzhou, Longzhou, Yinzhou, Xiazhou and other places.

The Song Army has been observing these states in the past few years. Among the states, Yinzhou is the most difficult to defeat. The Mongolian army also fought for a long time in the past. There are not enough cattle, horses and sheep in Yanzhou and Longzhou.

So I finally chose Xiazhou.

After the capture of Xiazhou, the Song army, civilians, and some carriage supplies entered Xiazhou, and [-] soldiers and horses basically camped along the west wall of Xiazhou City and behind the city.

Meng Gong's troops did not enter the city because they did not want to defend the city.

With his current strength and artillery equipment, as long as he defends the city, it will be useless for the 20 Mongolian troops to attack.

When the Mongolian army cannot attack the city, they may still divide their troops and go to help Chagatai along the way.

Therefore, Meng Gong placed his troops outside the city, intending to lure Kuo Duan to fight in the field.

In late May, Kuoduan's soldiers and horses hurriedly arrived ten miles away from Xiazhou City. The Mongolian army first observed the Song army's layout, and then began to camp five miles away from the Song army. Kuoduan was also quite bold and did not take the Song army lightly. inside.

At this time, he also saw that the Song army wanted to fight with him in the field, and the Mongolian army was naturally not afraid.

However, the Song army had artillery, and Kuo Duan had to consider drawing the Song army out. For a while, the two armies did not start fighting first, and each was thinking of a way.

Kuoduan Camp is located at the foot of Baishan Mountain six miles northwest of the Song Army.

Early in the morning at the end of May, the generals and nobles of various ministries came to the Kuoduan camp to discuss military matters.

This Kuo Duan was young and had commanded an army of [-] men for the first time. If he had been replaced by experienced Mongolian commanders such as Subutai, Tolei and Batu, he might not have done this.

At this time, Suzhou is besieged, and there is Chagatai in Shazhou. The more clever generals of the Mongolian army may send [-] Mongolian cavalry to harass and delay the Meng Gong tribe of the Song army, and the main force will attack Suzhou Meng Ying, or they may divide a Mongolian force. Riding to help Suzhou, Meng Gong was restrained.

Two lines of the Song Army are in Mongolia, and the Mongolian army must first concentrate their troops and destroy one line.

However, the Song army in Suzhou had few soldiers and horses, while Meng Gong had many soldiers and horses. If he wanted to defeat one group first, it would be best to attack Suzhou first.

If you go to attack Suzhou, you can join forces with Bahe, Chagatai and others. If you go back to attack Meng Gong, you have a greater chance of winning.

First of all, Kuo Duan was young, and secondly, he had never fought Song Jun before, so he still looked down on Song Jun from the bottom of his heart.

Hearing that Song's army numbered about [-], Kuo Duan was quite excited and wanted to prove himself in front of his father Wo Kuotai.

After Wokuotai ascended the throne, he named Duanduan the King of Xiliang. As the new Tibetan king of Great Mongolia, Kuoduan must have wanted to prove to all the Mongolian nobles that he had the strength to sit in this position.

So after much consideration, he decided to go back and fight Meng Gong on the excuse that Zhongxing Mansion could not be lost.

At that time, he had Zhao Di, Delbatu, Otun Baohe and other generals from the mine-towing system under his command. These generals all believed that Meng Gong could be ignored because the city of Zhongxingfu had high walls and thick walls, and the Mongolian army failed to defeat it for more than a year. , not afraid of the Song army coming to fight.

Everyone agreed that they should join forces with Chagatai first, knock out Meng Ying's path, and then turn around and attack Meng Gong.

But Kuoduan's subordinates are now gathering stars. After Wo Kuotai came to power, he valued his son very much and gave his son the most elite Xuedi tribe and Sundusi tribe.

Chi Laowen's sons Natu'er and Suowudu from the Xudusi tribe were all in the camp.

Shenidbu Alchi and Choermahan are also young (Choermahan is currently in Persia).

There are also generals Dorda and Dotanapo, both of whom are Guo Duan's confidants.

In addition to Zhao Di, Delbatu, Aotun Baohe, etc., there were also some people in the camp who supported the fight against Meng Gong.

These people had participated in the Western Expedition before, or had never fought against the Song Army, or even against the Jin Kingdom, so they all despised the Song Army from the bottom of their hearts, thinking that they could defeat Meng Gong first, and then go back to fight against Meng Gong. Ying.

There were different opinions in the camp, and in the end Kuo Duan decided to fight Meng Gong first.

Today, all the generals gathered together. When Kuoduan looked at the many generals in the camp, he was also very excited. Most of the generals in his camp will leave their names in history in the future and will be famous generals in the later generation of Mongolia.

When everyone arrived, Suo Wudu, who was behind Chi Laowen, took the lead and said: "The Song army's camp is outside the city. It is obvious that they want to fight with our army in the field. We should gather our troops and horses to fight quickly and defeat this Song army in one fell swoop." .”

Nayan Alechi of Qianhu nodded in agreement: "The Song army has many infantry but few cavalry. It is similar to the Jin army. We should lure them out of the formation——"

Dorda said: "How about moving the camp back a few miles?"

Several generals were talking about how to start a fight with the Song people. Their opinions were basically the same, which was to use the tactics that the Mongols were good at to draw the Song army out as much as possible. Some people thought that they were camping too close to the Song army now. After starting the fight, they could first fake defeat and then Lead backward.

And didn't the Song Army say they had artillery? The Song Army's artillery certainly couldn't push forward quickly.

The generals were all discussing. Only Zhao Di and Aotun Baohe did not speak at the scene. Delbatu also basically agreed to lead the Song army to fight.

Kuoduan listened to the opinions of the generals, and something was swirling in his mind.

Kuo Duan is considered to be the most outstanding of Wo Kuotai's sons, but because he is young and is leading the army for the first time, he has not shown it yet.

After the generals finished speaking, he finally said in a deep voice: "I know that some of you want to go back to fight the Song army in Shazhou first, join forces with my second uncle, and then come back to attack Meng Gong."

"But Shazhou is too far away, more than 2000 miles away. Secondly, in the direction of Shazhou and Suzhou, my second uncle's troops are on the offensive side. They can't afford to wait."

"The Song Army here is not only close, but also the attacking party. The Song Army also has artillery. Once the Zhongxing Mansion is lost, the morale of our army will be greatly reduced -"

There is some truth in what Kuo Duan said.

Chagatai is attacking the Song army in Shazhou, so he has time to wait and there is no crisis. (At least there is no danger in the eyes of the Mongols)

The Song army is attacking Xiazhou. If Kuo Duan doesn't care, the Song army will go directly to Zhongxing Mansion. Kuo Duan will go to attack the Shazhou and Suzhou Song armies, and he won't feel at ease.

After Kuo Duan spoke, all the generals stopped talking and listened calmly to what he said.

"Although I have never fought against the Song Army, I heard that the Song Army's artillery is powerful."

"But the Song Army's artillery also had flaws. It didn't fire very fast and moved slowly."

"As long as we don't engage in positional warfare with the Song Army, the Song Army's artillery is completely useless."

"The Song Army is now setting up a formation in the west of Xiazhou City. It should be that they want to invite us to a field battle."

"Field warfare is our Mongolian strength, there is no reason to be afraid of the Song Army."

"Every camp has a good rest today, and tomorrow morning we will raise our troops for a decisive victory as planned."

In a few words, Kuo Duan decided the decisive battle with the Song army tomorrow.

Their tactics are also very simple. Tomorrow we will see how far the Song army leaves the camp. If the Song army is followed by artillery fire, they will attack first and retreat to lure the Song army forward. As long as the Song army leaves the shelling range, the Mongolian army will be able to attack the Song Dynasty ruthlessly. Army.

Tomorrow, Dorda and Dotanabo will play on the left wing, Suowudu, Natu'er, and Delbatu will play on the right wing. Zhao Di and Aotun Baohe will be the center forwards, and the other generals will be on standby at any time.

After some instructions, most of the generals dispersed, and only Dorda and Dotanapo remained in the camp.

After the generals left, Dorda stepped forward and said worriedly: "Recently, rumors have been spreading everywhere in the Zhongxing Mansion. Zhao Di and Aotun Baohe are also close confidants. Can the king use them?"

Now the news is flying that Tuo Lei was poisoned by Wo Kuo Tai, and Kuo Duan's subordinates have the largest number of Tuo Lei's old subordinates, so Duo Erda is worried whether these people will contribute in the war tomorrow.

Kuo Duan thought for a while and said: "The Han people have a saying, don't trust people when you employ them, and don't use people when you doubt them."

"Zhao Di and Aotun Baohe are both our mighty Mongol generals. We must not discuss such matters in the army in the future."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Dorda and Dotanapo could only nod.

Kuo Duan acted as if nothing had happened, but in fact he was still a little panicked. After all, there was no such rumor in the original history. Now Zhao Yurui sends people everywhere to spread it, and everyone in Mongolia knows about it.

He will send Zhao Di and Aotun Baohe as the vanguard tomorrow, which also means to weaken the tow thunder system.

If they win, it will be good. If they don't go well, the soldiers and horses of Zhao Di and Aotun who keep the peace will be consumed.

Especially Zhao Di, who was originally a Han, and his subordinates were all Han troops.

Zhao Di was strict in running the army. His troops never plundered the people and never participated in massacres. This was completely opposite to the style of the Mongolian army. He was considered an outlier among the Mongolian army.

As for Zhao Di's soldiers and horses, they are good at riding and shooting, and they are brave in hand-to-hand combat on foot. They are no different from the elite of the Mongolian army.

If Zhao Di is used as the forward, the victory will be a great victory for the Mongolian army, but the defeat will not hurt the main Mongolian army, but the Han will be killed. Kuoduan is a good calculationr.

On the other side, Zhao Di had just walked out of the camp, and his younger brother Zhao Bin from outside the camp came up to him with a group of soldiers: "Brother, what did the king say?"

"Today the whole army will rest and recuperate. Tomorrow morning our army will be the forward of the central camp."

"What?" Zhao Bin's voice suddenly sounded several times louder: "Shall we play forward?"

"Why are you so loud? Let's talk about it after we get back to the camp." Zhao Di slapped him on the back of the head and hurried back to the camp with his younger brother.

Zhao Bin cursed along the way, saying that in the battle of Fangcheng Mountain, Tuo Lei didn't let them play forward.

Now everyone knows that the Song Army's artillery is powerful, and no one wants to fight in the vanguard.

What Zhao Bin meant, did Kuo Duan do it on purpose? He wanted to consume us?
Zhao Di said angrily, "Don't talk nonsense in the camp. The military orders are like mountains. No matter how much you say now, you can't change it. What's more, we don't play forward, there are always people playing forward. This time we play forward, we may change it next time." If others don’t fight this time, they will have their turn next time. What’s the difference?
Zhao Bin whispered again, there are rumors outside that Yike Nayan was poisoned by Hehan. Now Kuoduan, is he thinking-——?

"Bah!" Zhao Di slapped him again: "Shut up, you keep talking nonsense, Military Justice--"

Zhao Bin didn't dare to say anything anymore and stamped his foot angrily.

Zhao Di thought for a while and said slowly: "We can't rest today either."

"..." Zhao Bin. "The Song army uses very powerful arrows, and [-]% or even [-]% of the army are crossbowmen. We should build more large shields to prevent arrow rain."

"Convene a meeting of more than a hundred households and charge into formation tomorrow. The formation must be dispersed, front, rear, and both sides as dispersed as possible to prevent artillery——"

Zhao Di's soldiers and horses are good at riding and shooting, and they originally didn't like to engage in positional warfare, but tomorrow Kuoduan requested that they engage in positional warfare first, and then lead out the Song army. They had to guard against the Song army's arrow rain in the early stage, otherwise there would be heavy casualties.

Zhao Bin nodded and wrote them down one by one.

They are a replica of the Mongolian army. Their fighting style is the same as that of the Mongolian army. There are no shields in the army.

After Zhao Di gave the order, they began to learn to make the Mongolian army's shield (hand shield).

The Mongolian army has a small shield, which is made of leather and wood. It can be tied to the wrist and block the top of the head when charging. It can also block the opponent's swords and guns during the battle. During the Western Expedition, many people used it, especially the Mongolian soldiers. Military heavy cavalry will basically be equipped with it.

So Zhao Dijun worked non-stop that day, cutting down trees everywhere and making simple hand shields out of wood.
-
The Mongolian army is preparing for a decisive battle with the Song army tomorrow, and the Song army is also preparing.

Meng Gong also summoned the generals early in the morning and assigned tasks.

At the scene were his younger brother Meng Jing, rookie Cao Youwen, former Sichuan army generals Zhang Xuan and Tian Sui, Sichuan chieftain generals Yang Price and Wang Zhensun, etc.

Meng Gong's strategic purpose this time was to drag Kuo Duan's [-] troops near Xiazhou, or as long as Kuo Duan was not allowed to attack Meng Ying.

After Meng Ying defeated Chagatai, the two armies attacked Kuoduan together.

Therefore, Meng Gong is not in a hurry to have a decisive battle with Kuo Duan.

Kuo Duan was all cavalry. Meng Gong had more than 5 men, but only 1 cavalry. Even if he defeated Kuo Duan, Kuo Duan could retreat unscathed.

How to hold off Kuo Duan is Song Jun's top priority now.

Meng Gong's plan was to win the battle under Xiazhou City without inflicting too much pain on the Mongolian army. In order to let the Mongolian army see the hope of completely annihilating the Song army, Kuoduan would stay near Xiazhou.

"Now the Mongolian army knows that our artillery is powerful. With the mobility of their cavalry, once a fight breaks out, they will definitely want to lead us away and not fight with us in a fixed position."

At this time, Meng Gong was talking to the generals: "The optimal range of most of our artillery is three hundred steps." A small number of heavy artillery can reach more than seven hundred steps.

"The armies cannot leave Xiazhou City for more than five miles from the west wall."

The Song army turned its back on the city and stationed its camp, which was nearly two miles deep.

Once the whole army attacks, the lineup should be spread out at least one or two miles wide.

Therefore, Meng Gong requested not to leave the west wall of Xiazhou City for five miles.

He also specified how long and how short the trumpet sound should be. When the trumpet sound is heard, the entire army will retreat, no matter whether there is a great victory or not, they will retreat.

Because even if the Mongolian army is really defeated, the Song army's cavalry is not enough to pursue them, and the Mongolian army can retreat completely, so it is better not to pursue them and return after winning.

Then arrange Meng Jing's [-] cavalry on the left wing, followed by Cao Youwen's [-] infantry camp.

Tian Sui's six thousand cavalry were on the right wing, followed by six thousand Zhang's Xuanbu camp.

In front were Bozhou chieftain Yang Jie, Wang Zhensun and other Song troops with more than 2 infantry troops. Meng Gong himself was at the vanguard of the middle camp, surrounded by heavy armored infantry.

Behind the 4000 infantry and cavalry were more than [-] artillery battalions (six artillery battalions), including some trebuchets.

Meng Gong brought a total of 150 artillery pieces, including thirty heavy artillery pieces over a thousand kilograms.

All the cannons are outside the west city, waiting for the Mongolian army to attack.

After the Song army was stationed with its back against the west city wall, it did not need to defend its back, but only needed to defend its left and right wings.

Early the next morning, the Song army began to march out of the camp, and the artillery was pushed forward one after another, until it was pushed to the outermost edge of the camp. Then large groups of Song troops on foot and cavalry lined up in front of the artillery.

As if agreed upon, when the Song army was reorganizing, the Mongolian army also filed out of the camp.

The Mongolian army's camp was about five miles away from the Song army's camp, but early in the morning, generals such as Kuo Duan on the opposite side had already arrived on horseback [-] steps away from the Song army's camp.

They knew that the Song army had artillery that could hit such a distance, but the hit rate was not high, and the broadside was not very courageous, so they wanted to watch the Song army set up their formation.

When they saw the Song army pushing out the cannon, the generals around them panicked and tried their best to pull Kuoduan back.

"Why panic? That artillery is not that accurate. It is useful for attacking large armies, but it is useless for attacking targets like us." Kuo Duan forced himself to calm down, and the Song army on the opposite side didn't know Kuo Duan was here.

A dozen cavalrymen retreated [-] steps away and continued to watch the Song army form their formation.

However, more and more Song troops came out, and the forwards were getting closer and closer to them. Everyone was afraid that the artillery would be caught in the crowd, so they could only retreat further.

Sure enough, just when they wanted to mobilize their troops and then retreat.

Bang, the Song Army suddenly fired a shot in the distance.

The Song army should have seen the Mongolian army gathering, looked at the Song army's formation, and suspected that there were senior Mongolian army generals inside, so they fired a cannon at Kuoduan.

Kuo Duan and the other generals looked up and saw the black cannonballs flying out hundreds of steps before plopping down to the ground. They were still about seventy or eighty steps away from Kuo Duan, but there were more than a dozen steps to the left and right.

Seeing the Song army firing, everyone cursed and retreated quickly.

The Song Army's first shot was definitely inaccurate, but it was hard to tell after the adjustment, so everyone had better go back and shoot immediately.

Kuo Duan's expression was still depressed when he saw the Song Army rolling out so many artillery pieces. Even if the fire rate of so many artillery pieces was relatively slow, there would be many casualties in one wave.

So his tactics were right, he still pulled the Song army out and formed an artillery array in the distance.

After the Song Army's artillery came out, the Song Army began to file into formation.

Just looking at the formation and movement speed of the Song Army, Kuo Duan could feel that the Song Army was quite elite, at least several times more elite than the Jin Army.

The Jin army came out all under Xixi Lala, while the Song army was in a strict formation. When they walked, they moved but did not disperse, scattered but not chaotic. At first glance, they had been trained for a long time and had strict discipline.

This Song army is not easy to fight. Kuo Duan couldn't help but secretly grumbled in his heart.

The Song army came out first with the infantry camp. The first few rows were all pikemen. It was unclear what kind of soldiers they were in the back, but according to the Song army's practice, there must be more archers and crossbowmen.

Kuo Duan and the others found a high place nearly two miles away, but they could only see the dark mass of the Song army, and could not see how many rows there were.

The Song army's middle infantry camp consisted of three and a half troops, minus the artillery camp, with more than 2 people, lined up [-] paces in a row.

Because the west wall of Xiazhou City is only a thousand steps wide, more than 100 steps on the left and right are reserved for the two winged cavalry.

The Song army did not stand too densely, with about one person standing at each step, about 800 people.

Of course, once the Mongolian army wants to charge into the formation, the Song army's formation will compress inwards, and in a short time they can press down to [-] steps, or even [-] steps, or [-] steps.

If calculated from the number of people, the Song army has about 30 rows, but there are actually 25 rows, because the pike soldiers are densely stationed in the front, but the archers are not so dense in the back.

Kuoduan and the others were surprised after watching it for a while. Someone asked, "The Song army didn't use a chariot formation?"

It was quite common for the Song army to use carriages and spears to set up formations. They used to use them in almost every battle, but today they didn't see any carriages in front of them.

Zhao Di's archery skills are very good. He uses a two-stone bow and his eyesight should be good. Zhao Di said: "The Song army changed its normal situation. The carriage is not in the front, but in the middle."

"When I look at the Song Army's carriage, it seems to be in the middle, probably between the pikemen and the archers."

Zhao Di couldn't see very clearly, but Yixi could see objects larger than a person, so he was indeed right.

The Song army did not place the carriage in front this time, but placed it between the pikemen and archers.

The Mongolian army had to break through the pike formation before they could see the carriage.

There were ten rows of pikemen in front of the Song army, about 8000 people, and fifteen rows of more than 1 people in the back were all archers.

In the past, the Song army stacked the carriages in the front because of defensive needs. Now the carriages are in the middle because they are afraid that the Mongolian army will encounter the carriages and retreat if they cannot defeat them.

Meng Gong wanted to defeat the Mongolian army, but could not hurt the Mongolian army, so this time he placed the carriage in the middle.

When Kuo Duan heard this, he laughed and said, "Does the Song army think that it can stop our Mongolian cavalry with its spearmen?" There was laughter all around.

After Zhao Di thought for a while, he still advised cautiously: "The Song army has strict discipline. Back then, hundreds of miles away from Fengxiang City, Heyoke Nayan's cavalry could not move their arrows. It was quite shocking and difficult to fight."

What Zhao Di was talking about was the encounter between Tuo Lei and the Song army. The Song army faced the rain of arrows and fought against the Mongolian army. Tuo Lei often talked about that scene in front of his subordinates.

When fighting, you are afraid of encountering fools who are not afraid of death. The Song army was trained like this, and they were very afraid of dragging thunder.

After Zhao Di finished speaking, many generals around him showed disapproval. However, since Kuo Duan was present, everyone didn't say much, but they definitely didn't take it seriously.

In this world, there are people who are not afraid of death.

Song Jun is also a human being, and it is impossible not to be afraid of death.

During the Western Expedition, the armies of many countries began to be shot by the Mongolian army, and they were not afraid of death, but after a long time, they would still collapse.

Of course, the biggest advantage of the Song army is that there are many arrows in the middle and rear formations, so they can shoot against the Mongolian army.

While the generals were watching the Song army's arrangements, the Mongolian troops also came out one after another and took up their positions according to yesterday's assignment.

Soon, the generals said goodbye to Kuoduan and returned to their camps.

Kuo Duan looked back at himself and said in a deep voice: "Put up the flag."

Only then did the soldiers under his command put up the royal flag of the King of Xiliang.

"Beat the drums and send out the troops."

The Mongolian army agreed yesterday to attack after three drums.

The first tom is to remind everyone to concentrate and the fight is about to begin.

The second tom is a signal to organize the formation and pick up the weapons.

The third tom is directly on.

Dong-dong-hu, the big drums from the Mongolian army sounded first, and then, as if in response to them, the drums from the Song army also started beating.

The drums from both sides echoed one after another, echoing each other.

(End of this chapter)