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

Chapter 360

The two men raised their shields and looked forward. Sure enough, where Fan Xin's shield had been, there was a Mongolian army crawling over.

It turns out that the Mongolian army had many casualties and piles of corpses. Now the Mongolian army can crawl forward along the pile of corpses and jump directly over the tower.

"Damn it, fuck them." Fan Xin gave the order without saying a word, and a dozen Song troops resting around him hurried up.

Everyone swarmed up and stabbed him randomly.

The overturned Mongolian army fought back desperately, and the scene became a massacre. Mongolian soldiers were stabbed and fell to the ground one after another.

But more Mongolian troops are coming over again.

Both armies gathered in front of the iron shield. After the Mongolian army filled it with corpses, it became easier to climb over the large iron shield.
Fan Xin quickly said to Wang Dahai: "Go and get the kerosene——"

Wang Dahai ran back with his shield on his back.

There was a row of carriages between the spearmen and archers. Wang Dahai ran to the carriage and said he wanted to get kerosene.

A Song Army officer behind the carriage cursed: "Can't you stand it so early?"

"The Mongolian Tatar corpses are piled up like a mountain, and it is easy to crawl over." Wang Dahai shouted.

"Prepare the rockets. Be careful. Don't care if they hit you." the officer shouted.

Wang Dahai cursed and took an earthen pot and left. He was holding the earthen pot in one hand and holding a shield in the other. He was jogging along. He didn't know if he didn't hold up the shield properly.

Phew, an arrow fell from the air and hit Wang Dahai's right calf.

"Ah..." Wang Dahai screamed and fell to his knees.

Fan Xin turned around when he heard the sound and immediately shouted: "Dun, Dundun"

Dangdang, as soon as he finished speaking, two more arrows were shot at Wang Dahai's shoulder and head.

Song Jun's upper body was thickly armored, so these two arrows did not hurt Wang Dahai, but the arrow on his calf was really painful.

Wang Dahai endured the pain and quickly raised his shield. He lowered his head and glanced at the fire oil can in his hand, which was still intact.

He limped up and Fan Xin ran back, helped him to the front, and took over his fire oil can.

"Get out of the way." Fan Xin roared fiercely, and with a splash, a can hit the pile of corpses in front of the iron shield.

Then he turned around and saw that Song Jun behind him had already pulled up the rocket: "Squat down, the arrow is coming." Fan Xin roared.

The Song soldiers squatted down and raised their shields above their heads.

Whoosh whoosh, Song Army rockets were already shooting from behind.

Five or six rockets were fired at this side, two hit the kerosene, and another hit the Mongolian army.

Phew, the scene instantly burst into flames.

The Mongolian troops who had just climbed up were immediately wrapped in fire, screaming and jumping around wildly.

The Song army ignited the dead and wounded of the Mongolian army, and Xiongxiong fire quickly broke out at the scene, which effectively blocked the offensive here.

Later, the Mongolian army could only turn elsewhere.

When the Mongolian army retreated, Fan Xin stood up and spat, only to see that within dozens of steps of Zhou Wei, only his side had lit a fire, which meant that his side was under the greatest defensive pressure.

What the hell, Fan Xin cursed secretly.

After a fire breaks out here, Song Army Fan Xin's group can turn to support other Song troops.

The battle continued. The Mongolian army assembled a large number of heavy armored infantry and the Song army to fight on foot and climb over the shield.

Soon fires were lit one after another on the front line.

For about an hour, the entire front was already in flames. The Song Army's defense was under great pressure and fires were set off everywhere. This made it impossible for both sides to stand in the front and retreated one after another.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

Dang dang dang, the Mongolian army took the lead in blowing the golden sound of withdrawing troops.

The Song army had no martial virtue. They lit fires everywhere on the battlefield and burned the bodies of the Mongolian soldiers. The Mongolian army could no longer attack.

The Mongolian army and the Song army fought for more than an hour the next day. After the battle in the morning, they withdrew their troops and returned to the camp.

After both sides withdrew their troops, Mongolian generals came to the Kuoduan camp one after another.

The Mongolian army was counting casualties and reporting the results of the battle. Kuo Duan seemed to have a bad expression and was listening to what others were reporting.

The faces of other people were relatively good, and many of them had smiles on their faces.

Yesterday morning, the Mongolian army used the usual tactics of shooting first and then mounting heavy cavalry. As a result, the Song army suffered heavy losses in front of the turtle formation, but the Song army suffered no casualties. The battle ended in a hurry for more than half an hour (about more than an hour and a half).

Today they changed their tactics. They charged with cavalry when they came up. After charging up, they immediately dismounted and switched to infantry fighting. It was the same as siege and hand-to-hand combat. The effect was much better than yesterday.

The battle lasted for more than an hour in the morning, about three hours. The Song army had the upper hand in the front, but slowly began to lose ground in the rear. The defense line was broken by the Mongolian army in many places. When the Mongolian army came back, they also snatched back a dozen of the Song army's large iron shields. .

If the Song army hadn't seen that the situation was not going well and set fires everywhere and set the defense lines on fire, the Mongolian army would definitely have been able to get in.

"The bastard Song people." Dorda and Dotanapo carried something into the tent and threw it on the ground.

The heavy "bang bang" sound at the scene was the heavy iron shield of the Song Army.

"Hiss!" The scene was filled with exclamations, and many generals came forward to watch.

Delbatu stretched out his hand in surprise: "Made of pure iron?"

"Don't touch--" Dorda screamed before it was too late.

"Ah" Delbatu screamed and shrank his hands.

Dotanapo and Dolda suddenly laughed. It turned out that the big iron shield was burned hot by the Song army.

Delbatu cursed and blamed Dorda for not telling him earlier.

Dorda laughed dryly and handed the Song Army's spear to Kuoduan.

Kuoduan took it in his hand and his expression changed slightly: "Is it made of cast iron again?" This gun is so heavy, it is estimated to weigh more than ten kilograms.

"Your Majesty, look at the iron shield of the Song Army. There was originally cork on the back of the iron shield. After the Song Army lit it on fire, the cork on the back was burned away--"

"There are five holes on the shield, one on the top and two on the left and right--"

"When the Song army started fighting, two people would carry an iron shield, pass the spear through the hole on it, and carry it away -"

"The holes on the left and right are used for binding--they tied all the iron shields together and connected them in a line--so it was useless for our heavy cavalry to rush up--we couldn't break through them at all--"

"Which piece of shit came up with this?" Natul yelled. No wonder he suffered heavy losses on the first day.

"Are all the shields of the Song Army like this?" someone asked.

"No, only the first row has this big iron shield--"

"Their spears are all made of pure iron?" Kuo Duan asked again.

"No, only the first row is." Dorda added: "But the Song army's spears are longer than ours. The soldiers said that they suffered a loss when fighting them from the front and couldn't hit the Song army -"

Dorda waved back, and Dotanapo remembered something and hurriedly left the camp. After a while, he came back with three guns in his hand.

The three guns vary from long to short.

"This is our spear." Dorda showed it to everyone, and then released another one: "This is the flying spear of the Song Army. Thirty or forty steps later, they threw it over -"

"This is the Song Army's infantry spear, used to fight with us -"

The Song army's javelin was shorter than theirs, but their spear was more than half a meter longer than theirs.

"Look at the front of the Song Army's spear again." Dorda pulled out the long knife from her waist, banged it, and slashed at the back of the gun head several times, making a metallic sound.

"Behind the Song Army's gun head, there are more than ten inches of cast iron -"

Everyone looked at each other.

The Song Army spent a lot of money on this weapon. There is a metal tube of more than 30 centimeters in front of all the spears, and then the wooden pole is inserted into it.

This has several advantages. When fighting with a long knife, the long knife will not easily cut off the spear.

When defending at the top of the city, you can stab people after burning them.

This Mongolian army has not yet attacked the city, and has not seen the Song army stabbing people after burning Shazhou, so it is already unbearable to be stabbed by the Song army.

The opponent's spear is longer than theirs, which is really annoying.

Alechi said at this time: "The weapons of the Song army are all flashy and ineffective. They are still no match for our Mongolian warriors. Their defense lines were penetrated in many places today. If it weren't for the pike teams on their left and right wings coming to support, I’ve already called in.”

"If we gather heavy troops tomorrow and find a way to extinguish the Song army, we will definitely be able to defeat them and annihilate this Song army."

There was a sound of catering all around.

Zhao Di and Otun Baohe looked at each other again, wanting to say something but not daring to say it.

Alchi said it easily, but the fighting lasted for more than two hours in the past two days, but he didn't know how many brothers were killed or injured.

Zhao Di and Otunbao and their two men suffered heavy casualties. They were the vanguard every time. These Mongolians really stood up and talked without pain in their backs.

Before Kuo Duan could speak, Na Tu'er said beside him: "Tomorrow, the left and right wings will not be able to compete with the Song army."

This time everyone was nodding.

On both wings of the Song army, the cavalry was in front and the infantry camp was behind. However, when the Mongolian army moved forward, the Song army's cavalry did not come out. Instead, they wandered left and right on their front line. When the Mongolian army moved forward, the infantry, bows and arms on the opposite side were all firing. The Mongolian army was forward. In the fight with the Song army, the middle and rear parts were shot unbearably. The Mongolian army was not on time, and the cavalry on the opposite side was not on time. It was clear that they were stalling for time with the Mongolian army.

Moreover, the Song Army's cavalry was close to its own infantry formation, and the Mongolian army had to face the Song Army's infantry camp if it penetrated the cavalry.

It is difficult for the two wings to achieve a big victory, and there has been no results in the past two days. Basically, both sides are just fishing, and the main thing is to look at the frontal battle.

The Mongolian army's [-] to [-] soldiers and horses are wasting time on both wings, so they can't do this tomorrow.

"Tomorrow, don't worry about the two wings. The whole army will attack the front. Leave the cavalry to guard against the Song army's cavalry." What Alechi meant is that the Song army's cavalry is not scary. You can ignore it during the fight. As long as you send one cavalry to watch the Song army, don't let it go. They came out in case of escape.

The Song Army cavalry has always had to rely on infantry camps to fight them. If they came out alone, haha, the Mongols really didn't take it seriously and killed the Song Army cavalry casually.

At this time, Dotanabo said again that tomorrow the war horses should be filled with sacks of soil and find ways to extinguish the fire.

When the Mongolian army went into battle, they rushed forward on horseback, and then dismounted to fight on foot.

Horses can carry dirt on their backs and put out fires when they see them.

This is a bit clumsy, and it is quite troublesome to do this on the battlefield.

So some people objected and said, why can't we use rockets? Tomorrow we will also use rockets to shoot the Song army.

Song people like to set fires in broad daylight, right? Everyone sets them off together.

There was a lot of discussion at the scene, everyone was explaining tomorrow's tactics and how to fight.

There was a sad look on Kuo Duan's face, and he never said anything.

How can I put it, today's results are much better than yesterday, and there is almost hope of breaking down the Song Army's defense line. If the Song Army hadn't set fire everywhere, they would have been able to break in this morning.

However, after entering, there was a row of carriages behind the Song army.If the Song army withdraws, it means that the same attack will be repeated.

Everyone at the scene was only focused on whether they could get in, and no one noticed what the cost would be.

Kuo Duan thought of this and slowly raised his hand to signal everyone to stop making noise.

When everyone saw this, they all looked towards Kuoduan, and the tent gradually became quiet.

"Zhao Di." Kuo Duan asked Zhao Di at this time: "Your unit has been fighting forward for two days. How many casualties were there?"

"Return to your Majesty." Zhao Di said in a deep voice: "Our unit has suffered heavy casualties. Currently, there are still more than 700 men capable of fighting."

"Zhao Di, how many Han troops do you have?" someone asked.

"Five thousand." Zhao Di remained calm.

"Hiss" Many people in the big tent took a breath of air-conditioning.

If you don’t ask, you won’t know. If you ask, you’ll be shocked.

In just two days, we fought for more than two hours.

Zhao Di alone suffered nearly half of the casualties?
Of course, Zhao Di will definitely overreport, and some minor injuries will also be reported in order to exaggerate his losses. This is a common tactic used by everyone in the military.

But even if Zhao Di only suffered more than 1000 casualties, it would still be quite astonishing.

"Where is Aotun Baohe?" Kuo Duan asked again.

"Our department has more than 500 members."

There was a slight intake of cold air all around.

Kuo Duan looked around and said in a slightly dissatisfied tone: "I just got the news. It has only been two days of fighting. In the two mornings, the total casualties of our various units have reached 6000 or [-]. If we fight again tomorrow, I am afraid it will cost more than [-]."

The Mongolian army only had a total of [-] soldiers. They had only been fighting for two mornings and had suffered nearly [-]% casualties. This was a very scary figure.

Of course, various ministries must have overreported, but compared with the Western Expedition, this kind of record is already very disastrous.

"How many casualties did the Song army have?" someone asked loudly.

The camp was relatively quiet, and everyone looked at each other. After a while, Zhao Di said: "There must be fewer than us."

The Song Army had no casualties on the first day, with a few hundred at most. The casualties increased significantly yesterday.

Seeing that there was some silence in the big tent, the generals who were so proud just now were silent now.

Alchi immediately said: "What are you afraid of? If we fight for a while tomorrow, we will definitely be able to defeat them. By then, we will kill all these Song troops -"

"The Iron Shield Formation of the Song Army is very difficult to break. Even if it is broken, there will still be a carriage formation behind it - and I don't know what formation is behind the carriage formation. The Song people are insidious and may not be able to fight -" Aotun Baohe finally spoke.

We fought all morning today and could barely see hope of breaking through the first line of defense.

Even if the iron shield formation is broken tomorrow, there will still be a carriage formation behind it. If the carriage formation is broken, there is no telling what is behind it.

"What do you mean? Is this all?" Alchi said dissatisfied: "How can I, Damon, have an invincible army?"

When they defeated the Jade Dragon Chijie City in Khwarezm, they couldn't capture it for a long time, and the Mongolian army didn't withdraw. They changed the commander and continued the attack. Didn't they finally capture it?

Zhao Di added: "The Han people have a saying, don't count the victory, but predict the defeat in advance. If you continue to rely on the Song army, it may not be a good thing——"

"The Song Army has Xiazhou City at its back and has no worries about food and drink. Instead, we are in the wild--"

"Can we send an army to the west to support Shazhou and Suzhou?" Zhao Di suggested again that he should divide his troops to attack Meng Ying's tribe.

In this way, they can slowly fight the Song army in Xiazhou City, and they will not be afraid after a long time.

As long as Meng Ying's tribe is destroyed, they can come together with Chagatai's tribe to defeat Meng Gong.

Meng Gong's soldiers and horses, equipped with large iron shields and a large number of carriages, were obviously focused on defense. The Mongolian army could just fight them and there was no need to attack by force.

As for Meng Ying's troops, they detoured thousands of miles to attack Shazhou. Meng Ying's troops did not have large iron shields or carriages, so they were suitable for the Mongolian army's field battles.

I have to say that Zhao Di is indeed quite competent and got to the point.

But he forgot the prerequisite, that is, is Meng Ying willing to fight with them?

Moreover, it would be better if Zhao Di was in the Hebei and Shanxi areas. There are many Han generals there and tens of thousands of households, but here are all Mongolian nobles, Jurchens, Khitan and other thousands of households, so the status of the Han people is slightly lower. point.

So someone immediately objected and said, we might as well send all the troops to attack Xiazhou. Since we have to divide our troops, why not divide our troops to attack Xiazhou?
The Song army is basically outside the west gate of Xiazhou. We sent a group of troops to attack the east gate of Xiazhou, and the Song army itself divided its troops to defend the city.

This suggestion is not bad, as it can divide the Song army's troops.

Zhao Di immediately said, what if all the Song troops entered the city?Aren’t we going to attack the fortified city?
The scene was quickly divided into three waves. The first wave was dominated by Zhao Di and Aotun to maintain peace and requested that troops be sent to Shazhou and Suzhou.

One wave advocated dividing the troops to attack Xiazhou, while the other group advocated continuing the attack tomorrow. Don't attack Xiazhou. They were afraid that the Song army would enter the city, so they should fight the Song army in the wild.

The three parties quarreled back and forth, but in the end they all looked towards Kuo Duan, because in the end it was Kuo Duan who had to make the decision.

As the most powerful son of Wo Kuotai, Kuo Duan finally made a decision, but this decision came a little late.

"The Song army set up a formation outside Xiazhou City, obviously tempting us to attack."

"The Song army mainly focused on defense, and all the troops and camps were heavily armored, which was not conducive to long-distance marching and rapid movement."

"We cannot be led by the Song Army."

Kuo Duan now regretted coming to fight the Song Army because he had never fought against the Song Army at that time. He did not expect the Song Army to be so difficult to deal with, and he only wanted to focus on defense and lead them to attack.

"There have been heavy casualties in the past two days. The losses are not small. If we fight again tomorrow, I'm afraid there will be more casualties."

"I have made up my mind." Kuo Duan said loudly.

Kuo Duan decided not to play with Meng Gong and raised his troops to fight Meng Ying.

On the Xiazhou side, [-] elite cavalry were left to guerrilla with the Song army, using tactics that the Mongols were good at to hold back the Song army.

The Song army has many horses, tens of thousands of civilians, and countless baggage. As long as the Mongolian army follows closely, the Song army will not be able to escape in a short time.

He will personally lead nearly 5 troops back to the direction of Shazhou. After defeating Meng Ying, he will return with Chagatai to defeat Meng Gong.

As soon as this statement came out, many people at the scene objected.

Xiazhou is more than 2000 miles away from Shazhou, and even it is nearly [-] miles away from Suzhou.

If the Mongolian army ran from here, even if it was two hundred miles a day, it would take more than ten days.

After the fight, I came back, going back and forth for nearly a month.

By then, Meng Gong was afraid that he would have crossed the Yellow River and returned to Sichuan.

Moreover, someone asked, the Song army in Suzhou may not be willing to fight with us in the field. What if they go back to defend Guazhou City and Shazhou City?
If the Song army did not fight with them in the field and just defended the city, they would be running away in vain.

But Kuo Duan refused to listen, thinking that there was no point in spending time with Meng Gong here, and after joining forces with Chagatai, the army would be stronger and it would be easier to attack the city.

At this time, Zhao Di said again: "Song soldiers and civilians have countless men and baggage, and they are moving very slowly. As long as our army keeps harassing them, they will not be able to return to Sichuan even if it takes two months - just hold them back."

"Unless the Song army doesn't need to carry heavy baggage, they will all ride on horseback regardless of the civilians or foot camps."

Some people still wanted to object, but Kuoduan said loudly that he had already decided, and that was it. Whoever wanted to stay and delay the Song army must make sure that the Xiazhou Song army could not leave the Xixia territory within a month, and at least the Song army must be allowed to do so. The army cannot reach the Yellow River.

It was a good job to stay, and there was no need to fight the Song army, but the Mongolian generals seemed unwilling to do so.

After Kuo Duan finished speaking, everyone in the camp looked at me and I looked at you, waiting for others to speak.

Zhao Di wanted to stay, but his rank was not high enough. Guanduan wanted to keep [-] troops, and he was not of ten thousand households. He was afraid that he would not be able to obey, and he did not dare to complain.

Unexpectedly, Alchi beside him said angrily: "I think what Zhao Qianhu said is very reasonable. Zhao Qianhu should be very confident about holding back Song Jun."

Zhao Di said simply: "The last general does not have so many subordinates."

Kuo Duan thought for a while: "Aotun guarantees peace, you and Zhao Di stay, plus Aladoli——"

Zhao Di and Otunbaohe originally had more than 1 troops together, but they suffered a lot in the past two days, and Kuo Duan left him another group of Turkic soldiers.

The total number of the three of them is almost over [-]. They are mainly composed of the Han army, the Jurchen soldiers, the Khitan, and the Turkic servant armies. There is no one from the Mongolian headquarters.

With Zhao Di as the commander, Song Jun was held back.

This was the first time that Zhao Di led an army of ten thousand people, and Zhao Di accepted the order.

After Kuoduan was assigned, it was decided that early tomorrow morning, Zhao Di's soldiers and horses would gather in front to build up the momentum to attack the Song army. When the Song army gathered to fight, the main force of the Mongolian army immediately turned around and returned to Zhongxing Mansion first, and then replaced one man with two horses. Head towards Suzhou to support Chagatai.

The next morning.

In the Song army formation, Meng Gong got up early and led a group of generals to appear at the top of Xiazhou City.

At this time, the Song army was having breakfast, and Meng Gong could also see the smoke filling the air in the distance, and the Mongolian army was also starting to attack.

The Song Army was in charge of the defense, so naturally he was not in a hurry. Meng Gong calmly said something to the generals at the top of the city. After a while, there were fast horses rushing into the city outside the city.

Then a sentry rider came to the city head to report to him. The sentry rider said that the Mongolian army's sentry riders increased greatly today, and began to drive away the Song army's sentry riders to prevent the Song army's sentry riders from getting closer.

The Mongolian army and the Song army fought in the past two days. The sentries and cavalry of both armies were wandering around, and there were few conflicts.

The main purpose of the Song army's sentry cavalry was to see whether there were Mongolian troops on the other three sides of Xiazhou, and where the main force and reserves of the Mongolian army were.

The Mongolian sentry cavalry ignored the Song army and allowed the Song army to see the Mongolian reserve force but did not expel it.

Today the Sentinel Cavalry came to report that the Mongolian army had begun to expel them.

Meng Gong suddenly shouted: "The Mongolian army is leaving?"

We've only been fighting for two days and we're leaving?
"The Mongolian army will definitely suffer losses if they fight like this. If they fight for a few more days, they will suffer half of their casualties." Yang Jie, the chieftain of Sichuan, said with a smile: "Kuo Duan is not a mediocre person. He should have seen the problem and is unwilling to attack by force."

The Mongolian army is good at field warfare, and now that the Song army is dragging them into positional warfare, Kuo Duan will definitely not be able to bear it.

"What day is it today?" Meng Gong asked casually.

"The fifth day of June."

Meng Gong waved his hand, and a soldier came forward and took out a small notebook. He opened the small notebook in front of everyone, but it turned out to be a small folded map.

The map is exactly the area of ​​Xixia, with the Song army's two march routes and times drawn on it.

All the generals gathered around to watch.

The marching routes on the map are marked with approximate times. For example, on which day Mengying set out from Diezhou, and on which day Meng Ying would arrive in Shazhou.

The siege will take about three days. After capturing Shazhou, we will attack Guazhou.

Finally, I will be in Suzhou in May.

There is also Meng Gong's military route, with slight changes in the middle, and several plans included.

Including if Kuoduan doesn't come, they go to attack Zhongxing Mansion. If Kuoduan comes, they go to the direction of Xiazhou.

This is the time estimated before the Song Army set off. There is definitely an error in the time, but it will not be too big unless it is defeated somewhere and fails to achieve its intended goal.

(End of this chapter)