Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 48: Dead Trees and Rotten Trees Work Together

Cavalry infantry combat is a traditional art in East Asia.

The so-called "three-war preparation" means that a soldier must master the three combat skills of sword, gun and bow, and must carry these three weapons at the same time.

In this way, they can undertake three tasks on the battlefield at the same time, including long-range strikes, spear assaults and close combat, and their combat efficiency can be greatly improved.

Most elite soldiers in the cold weapon era were able to "prepare for three kinds of warfare", and a considerable number of them also mastered the skills of horseback archery and horseback charging, which was equivalent to "preparing for five kinds of warfare". If their physical strength was exceptional, they could even wear two or three layers of heavy armor to attack!

At this time, Karasuno was leading such an army with five weapons.

Facing a similar number of unarmored infantry, the Jin army had no reason and should not have failed.

At least that's what Wu Ye thought when he attacked the Song army.

The Song army's beachhead was built very cunningly, with trenches and chevaux de frise all around, but a gap of more than ten steps wide was left in the middle, just like a courtesan in a brothel, who was dressed neatly but opened her clothes to welcome the arrival of a patron.

This cannot be said to be a trick, but only a psychological suggestion, making the Jin army feel that they can attack through this gap.

Wu Ye was no fool; he had noticed this while observing the battlefield. If he had brought several hundred men to attack, he would have pushed down the barricades, but he only had fifty soldiers, and was not capable of such a major task. Furthermore, he had not discovered any ambush by the Song army, so to ensure a quick victory, he could only lead his troops to charge through the gaps left by the Song army.

The Song army still deployed the simplest spear and shield formation, but because the Jin army chose to fight on foot, the front-line Song soldiers gave up holding spears in one hand and shields in the other. Instead, they held their large shields on the door panels with both hands, and had their comrades behind them hold spears in both hands, extending them through the gaps between their shields, pointing them straight forward.

Although this move ensured the offensive and defensive capabilities of the spear formation, it also led to a decrease in the density of the spears. Although there were more than 30 Song soldiers in formation, there were only a dozen spears lined up in a row.

The spear formation is too sparse. It is okay to deal with less flexible war horses, but it is very difficult to deal with dismounted armored soldiers fighting on foot.

At least two more rows are needed to fully protect the front.

Wu Ye didn't know whether this was an oversight by the Song army, but he knew that the opportunity could not be missed, so he gave a loud order and asked the front-line soldiers to line up and move forward with iron round shields, facing the barrage of crossbows, and approaching within ten steps of the Song army.

At this distance, both the Song army's Shenbi crossbow and the Jin army's iron-rimmed hard bow could not only penetrate armor, but even shields.

But the iron-framed hard bow's firing rate is much faster than that of the divine arm crossbow.

The Jin army threw their shields aside, drew their bows and drew their arrows. The front row of Jin soldiers shot horizontally, and the Jin soldiers in the back row shot volleys. In a moment, three rounds of heavy arrows were fired.

Several Song soldiers were killed or wounded immediately, three shield-bearing soldiers were shot down, and the spear formation became chaotic.

"Follow me and kill us!"

Wu Ye did not let his subordinates continue to shoot arrows, but immediately took the lead in charging with two swords in hand.

According to past experience, the Song army was afraid of close combat, otherwise they would not have developed long-range weapons such as the Shenbi Crossbow. As long as they broke into the Song army's formation, the Song army would quickly be defeated.

It is extremely irrational to shoot against the divine arm crossbow.

You must know that pulling the crossbow string can mobilize the strength of the whole body, while pulling the bow can only use the strength of the two arms. Although the bow has a faster shooting speed, the arms of an ordinary soldier will lose strength after shooting a dozen arrows, and he will have to rest for a while before fighting.

Instead of wasting time, you might as well charge into close combat!

The fact was just as Wu Ye had thought. When the Jin army soldiers launched the charge, the Song army light infantrymen holding large shields immediately dragged their injured comrades away, and the spearmen behind them fled even faster, not even caring about their eight-foot-long spears, throwing them on the ground and turning around to run away.

The Jin army rushed into the Song army's position with almost no effort.

Wu Ye chased after them with a sly grin, his disdain for the Song army reaching its peak. No matter what trick they had used to kill Hu Ligai, the Song army was truly such a coward!
then……

Then Wu Ye understood why these Song soldiers were not only shirtless and without armor, but also barefoot without shoes.

Wu Ye was about to chop the Song army's back with his knife, but he felt his feet slip and he staggered forward two steps before he could steady himself.

However, the several soldiers beside him did not have such good skills and fell directly to the ground.

Karasuno lowered his head and glanced around before suddenly realizing.

The Shuhe River also experienced several breaches after the Yellow River took over the Huai River. However, the situation in the upper reaches was not so bad as Luo Guzi stepped in and gathered people from several counties to repair the dike.

The situation downstream was even worse. When the dam was halfway built, Luo Guzi had been dismissed from office and returned to his hometown. In addition, this place was the front line between the Song and Jin dynasties, a man-made no-man's land, and no one cared when the dam collapsed.

The reason why the Song army chose to cross the river here was not only because the river channel was narrow and the hydrology was clear, but most importantly, the river embankment had collapsed and turned into a river beach, so the army could directly deploy their troops without having to cross the embankment.

The riverbed is now covered with slippery mud.

For the shirtless and barefoot Song army, this little bit of slippery mud might not be a big deal; but for the Jin army wearing 60 kilograms of heavy armor, it was a matter of life and death.

As if the Jin army's fall served as a signal, a rapid drumbeat rang out from the Song army. The fleeing Song army quickly stopped, and along with the crossbowmen who had abandoned their divine arm crossbows, they all rushed back with short weapons and shields.

"Hold on! Form a formation!" Wu Ye knew that he had been plotted against, so he made a prompt decision. Instead of rescuing the fallen Jin soldiers, he formed a formation with the rest of the soldiers and retreated.

The 60-jin armor and the slippery ground made it difficult for the fallen Jin soldiers to stand up. They were quickly pinned to the ground by the Song army, and the short knives and daggers were stabbed into the gaps in the armor.

Blood gushed out, staining the muddy ground with a hint of dark red.

Karasuno's eyes were bloodshot and he roared in anger.

Eight professional warriors who had trained themselves since childhood and experienced numerous life and death situations died in such a cowardly manner in the mud.

"Ah!!! Song Gou!!! Form a formation! Retreat!"

However, Wu Ye was not blinded by anger and ordered his troops to withdraw from the Song army camp first.

The Jin soldiers suffered a great loss in this kind of bad battle.

But how could the Song army allow the Jin army to withdraw at this time?
The sound of war drums became more rapid, and Dong Cheng shouted the order: "Push forward side by side!"

A dozen Song soldiers picked up Teng shields and short weapons, formed two rows, and charged forward through the mud.

Originally they wanted to knock down the Jin army, but the Jin army had already reacted. Although they did not have shields, they were heavily armored. They used the armor to resist directly, and slashed randomly with their swords.

After all, the Song army had no armor, and the Teng shield was not enough to protect the whole body. Several people were immediately injured and retreated in embarrassment.

"Put on the lasso!" Dong Cheng put down the drumstick and ordered loudly.

Wei Chang threw down his sword and shield, picked up the rope that was originally used to tie the wooden fence of the camp, circled it twice in the air, and threw it towards the Jin army formation.

More than a dozen Song soldiers made the same move at the same time.

(End of this chapter)