People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 357 Battle of the Bayou, easily won

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. .

To complete this strategy, Li Yuanhao must use limited artillery to defend the city. In this way, when the Song Army attacks Mochuan City, it will encounter more than fifty artillery blocks.

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.

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.

The guard next to him pointed into the distance.

"Fire!"

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

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.

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.

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.

Soldiers stormed the camp on the south bank.

"Stop the boat, stop the boat quickly."

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 fear to strange laughter and screams, as if they were mocking the Song army's cowardice.

Jia Kui then shouted to the soldiers behind him.

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

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.

"hehe."

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

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

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.

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

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

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

"General, look."

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."

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.

Then there is no more.

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

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

"Bang bang bang bang bang bang!"

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.

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.

"Up, up, up!"

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.

Many Xixia soldiers on the north bank also had frightened expressions on their faces, with their eyes wide open and their mouths slightly open. They seemed to be 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."

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 frank.

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.

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.

There was a sudden commotion on the other side.

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

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

"Yes."

But Xixia people and horses can't stand the fear, especially the horses.

Even though Li Yuanhao has become smarter now and learned to plug the horses' ears to prevent loud noises, it is difficult to cover his eyes with a blindfold.

Regardless of the cost or the fact that he was not charging blindfold at this moment, it would only expose the horses to gunfire.

After more than ten rounds of shooting, the Xixia cavalry dispersed. Jia Kui led the soldiers to the beach. More than a hundred people organized a firepower net, forcing the surrounding Xixia soldiers not to dare to cross the thunder pool.

Then the boat started to turn back and continue to pick up people.

At this time, if the Xixia Army took the opportunity to rush forward regardless of casualties, even if the firepower network organized by more than a hundred people shot one or two hundred people to death, there would still be no problem in capturing them.

The guards on Xixia's side were not fools. They actually understood this and started shouting and asking the soldiers from all departments to quickly complete the assembly.

However, the number of people was small and they were just going to die, but most of the Xixia soldiers were frightened out of fear, and their frightened horses were running around. It was not easy to reorganize the people to launch an offensive, and it took time.

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

But before they even started, they fell into despair. Because the next wave of soldiers from the Song Army had already rowed boats and quickly docked, and they were also forming musket formations.

With the current posture, I am afraid that even if they rush over and win, it will be a miserable victory at best.

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

"kill!"

The group who followed Li Yuanhao to conquer the country can be considered the Xixia elite. They were so brave that they were not afraid of death and launched a death-like charge. When Jia Kui, who was building a defense line on the shore in the distance, saw this, he sneered and shouted: "Take it out."

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

Although muskets and artillery are widely equipped, the Song Army has always had reserves of these things. After all, they are firearms to fight cold weapons. How could they not prepare anything?

The Song soldiers had two or three grenades hanging on their waists. When they crossed the river for the second time, Jia Kui had a large number of grenades brought to the boat.

At this moment, about thirty people gave up their firearms and moved grenades in front of their positions.

The remaining two hundred or so people continued to form a three-stage shooting formation, aiming their guns at the Xixia cavalry charging towards them on the northern plain.

"shooting!"

When the cavalry were more than a hundred feet away, which was about three hundred meters away, Jia Kui shouted loudly.

Although loading mini rounds is not as convenient and simple as a breech-loading rifle, the range is comparable.

Later during the Civil War, Confederate sniper Sergeant Glenn also created the miracle of shooting Northern Army General John Sedgwick with a single shot from 900 meters away with a Whitworth rifle.

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

Because the early design of the Whitworth rifle at that time did not have Mini bullets and used hard projectiles, the muzzle of the gun was easily jammed by bullets during loading, making it impossible to shoot.

Mini bombs were not used until later, and the lack of air tightness led to insufficient combustion, which caused extremely serious problems with residues inside.

Nowadays, the manufacturing of weapons in the Song Dynasty is vigorously researched by the imperial court. Unlike in the West in the 18th and 19th centuries, private craftsmen or gunsmiths often modified and designed them themselves. Nimi bombs were the first to be widely used, and their air tightness was reduced to a minimum.

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

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

We have basically reached the threshold before World War I, that is, the era before smokeless gunpowder was invented in France in 1886, and the world abandoned black powder after 1890 and began to vigorously develop modern rifles.

At this moment, the enemy's cavalry regrouped and launched another offensive toward the river. Dozens of musketeers fired immediately, followed by the second round, the third round, and the fourth round, seemingly endlessly.

The Xixia cavalry in front fell like wheat in the harvest, making the Xixia general who was also charging with the team already sweating profusely, and a feeling of fear arose in his heart.

But he didn't dare have any thoughts of slowing down or leaving the battlefield.

Marching and fighting sometimes rely entirely on a certain amount of momentum. Once the momentum is not unleashed or becomes discouraged, the army will truly be defeated.

Therefore, Xixia could only continue to press forward, praying to God to protect themselves and prevent bullets from falling on their heads.

The distance of only one hundred feet and three hundred meters, less than a minute, to the Xixia soldiers, seemed like more than half a century had passed, so long and frightening.

But after paying the price of hundreds of people, the remaining two thousand people finally came closer, making the surviving Xixia Army general both excited and nervous.

What is exciting is that the god of luck really favored me and allowed me to survive. What was nervous was that he saw with his own eyes that when they were about to get close to thirty feet, Song Jun suddenly took out a grenade that frightened them.

This thing is too familiar to Xixia people.

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

"Throw!"

Thirty feet is more than ninety meters. From this distance, the bombardiers could not throw it with all their strength.

But this is a prejudgmental attack.

Song Jun took out the grenade, pulled the fuse, and threw it out. It probably took a few seconds.

In these few seconds, the Xixia cavalry was enough to run fifty or sixty meters away.

"Bang bang bang!"

The first round of grenades did almost no damage.

Because few of them can be thrown to fifty meters, most grenades fall down at about thirty meters.

But even so, it also caused the horses to be frightened, and the Xixia soldiers were instinctively afraid and subconsciously reined in the horse ropes to slow down the offensive.

Immediately after the second and third rounds, grenades continued to explode, causing the Xixia soldiers who rushed into the smoke to fall over.

And the Musketeers are still harvesting lives.

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

"Kill!"

There was a chaos on the battlefield. Some had attached bayonets to their guns and prepared for hand-to-hand combat. Some continued to throw grenades to disrupt the enemy's formation, while others still maintained their shooting postures.

After a while, it seemed that many Xixia cavalry were approaching. The two sides fought fiercely, and finally began to fight with cold weapons.

However, at this time, the Song army fought more and more, while the Xixia army fought less and less.

Because six small boats were constantly transporting the Song army back and forth, three quarters of an hour had passed 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 the Song army exceeded 500. The Xixia army was retreating steadily. The entire Xixia army on the north bank was in disarray. Even the Xixia army general was not lucky for the second time. He ate a grenade and was blown up on the spot. die.

"Humph!"

Jia Kui pulled out the bayonet from the body of a Xixia soldier and snorted coldly.

There was smoke and dust all around.

The sounds of various horses neighing, soldiers shouting, enemy screams, and sporadic sounds of firearms and grenades can be heard endlessly.

He raised his head and looked around. Within about one kilometer of the battlefield, there were enemies fleeing in panic.

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

Most of the soldiers were in high spirits and were still rushing forward as if they had been given a shot of blood. However, their feet were no match for the horses. Many Xixia soldiers reined in their horses and ran away without even approaching, leaving only their retreating figures.

"Bah! A bunch of cowardly thieves."

Jia Kui spat on the ground again. It was true that fighting was a waste of time. In addition to the strong northwest wind and heavy dust, the dust caused by throwing grenades was also all over the sky. Many soldiers were even covered in dust.

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

There were soldiers reporting to him.

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

"Yes."

The soldiers returned.

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 combined.

Moreover, thousands of people were killed and injured, and his own casualties were almost negligible. It can be said that he won easily!

(End of this chapter)