I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 249 The Court Crushes the Outlaws

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Both sides wanted to decide the outcome in one battle.

Therefore, once everything was ready, under Song Jiang's personal command, the Song army launched an attack on Fang La's rebel army.

At the same time, Fang La's rebel army was also preparing to launch an attack on the Song army using pre-planned tactics.

However, to Fang La's surprise, at the very beginning of the war, Song Jiang ordered Yao Pingzhong to lead his 3,000 light cavalry to bypass Fang La's camp and launch an attack on Fang La's village.

After receiving the order, Yao Pingzhong followed their pre-arranged battle plan, charging forward while throwing firewood and sandbags, easily filling in the swamp in front of Fang La's rebel army, and reaching the left flank of Fang La's rebel army in the shortest possible time.

Fang Qifo and other leaders of Fang La's rebel army never expected that the Song army would so easily break their advantage in terrain and turn it into an advantage for the Song army.

This is one of the differences in their underlying strengths.

Not long after Song Jiang's rebel army accepted the imperial amnesty, Zhao Yu sent a staff team to Song Jiang, with Zhang Suo, Li Yunwen, and Chen Gui as its core members, to help him manage the new Song Jiang rebel army and assist him in fighting battles.

Before the battle, Zhang and others helped Song Jiang analyze all the ways to deal with Fang La's rebel army, including Fang La's most effective human wave tactics, the local terrain, and how to counter them.

The so-called "village village" was actually the camp where the elderly, weak, women and children of Fang La's rebel army lived.

These camps were mostly located near the main camps of Fang La's rebel army, and were temporarily pieced together with carts and a lot of miscellaneous items to form a barrier, making their defenses extremely weak.

Fang Qifo and other leaders of Fang La's rebel army did not actually expect the villagers of Xiaozhai to resist the Song army's attack.

In fact, Fang Qifo and other leaders of Fang La's rebel army intended to use these old, weak, women and children as cannon fodder to deplete the Song army's elite forces.

However, Fang Qifo and other leaders of Fang La's rebel army never expected that the Song army would easily bypass their pre-prepared advantageous terrain and launch the first attack on them, using their strongest cavalry to mow down their cannon fodder.

In the blink of an eye, the village of Fang La's rebel army was captured by Yao Pingzhong's cavalry.

The panicked elderly, women, and children instinctively fled towards the camp of Fang La's main force, easily disrupting the undisciplined left wing of Fang La's army.

Yao Pingzhong had many problems, such as being stubborn and ambitious.

However, it must be admitted that when the war was going well, the young Grand Commandant, whose reputation resounded throughout the Western Army, was indeed a fierce general.

Seeing that Fang La's rebel army was thrown into disarray by their attack, Yao Pingzhong seized the opportunity and followed the fleeing elderly, weak, women and children of Fang La's rebel army. He successfully passed through the firing range of Fang La's crossbows and then charged fiercely at the left flank of Fang La's rebel army.

Fang Qifo quickly dispatched Fang Baihua to lead her elite troops to intercept Yao Pingzhong, and the two sides then engaged in a fierce close-quarters battle.

Despite being a woman and not very old, Fang Baihua was no less capable than most generals when it came to fighting.

Soon, Fang Baihua's elite troops clashed with Yao Pingzhong, who was leading the charge.

Upon seeing that the newcomer was Fang Baihua, Yao Pingzhong, eager for military merit, immediately brightened up. If he could capture Fang Baihua alive for Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu might know his name, thus paving a long way for him to become a true Grand Commandant in the future.

Yao Pingzhong immediately spurred his horse to fight Fang Baihua.

Unexpectedly, Fang Baihua's martial arts skills were superb, and her strength was astonishing. Yao Pingzhong, who neither wanted to nor dared to use lethal force, was indeed unable to defeat Fang Baihua in a short time.

The elite troops brought by Fang Baihua were all top-notch warriors selected from among the best of Fang La's rebel army, and many of them were also cavalrymen.

Thus, thanks to the efforts of Fang Baihua and others, the left wing of Fang La's rebel army gradually stabilized.

Seeing that the left flank was still undecided, Song Jiang then ordered Liu Guangshi to lead his 3,000 light cavalry to attack the right flank of Fang La's rebel army.

After receiving the order, Liu Guangshi followed the same method to attack the right wing led by Chen Miaozhen.

After Liu Guangshi and Chen Miaozhen had also engaged in combat, Fang Qifo, who no longer wanted to wait to be killed, ordered: "The central army should attack and decide the outcome in one battle."

Then, the drums of Fang La's rebel army roared!
Countless rebels of Fang La, wearing headscarves of various colors, charged towards the Song army with rattan shields, accompanied by the cheers of war drums.

The first wave of Fang La's rebel soldiers who launched the attack were mostly the elderly, weak, women and children. They had no offensive weapons, only rattan shields woven from rattan. They charged fearlessly at the Song army, whose equipment was many times better than theirs.

Immediately afterwards, a chorus of voices suddenly rang out from Fang La's rebel army: "Burn my broken body, blazing fire. What joy is there in life, what sorrow in death? To do good and eliminate evil, only for the sake of light. Joy and sorrow, all return to dust. Pity the people of this world, for they have so many worries. Pity the people of this world, for they have so many worries..."

This scripture is like the battle song of Fang La's rebel army.

Upon hearing this "battle song," Fang La's rebel army soldiers seemed to be hypnotized, completely disregarding their own lives, charging forward relentlessly, one after another.

The rattan shields in the hands of Fang La's rebel army were of unknown origin, and arrows could not penetrate their defenses at all.

Although the Song army had anticipated that Fang La's rebel army would use such a human wave tactic of attrition and had taken countermeasures, to be honest, they really did not expect that people could be so crazy.

As a result, the Song soldiers could only watch helplessly as the elderly, women, and children of Fang La's rebel army charged into their own ranks despite a hail of arrows.

The elderly, women, and children who were the first to charge into the Song army's ranks did not fight with the Song soldiers; they simply charged forward recklessly until they were killed.

cannon fodder?!
Suicide squad?!

Without witnessing it firsthand, it's truly hard to believe that these elderly, weak, women, and children would become the sharpest spearhead of Fang La's rebel army. They actually tore a gap in the Song army's solid defenses with their own flesh and blood. There was no fear in their eyes, only determination and tragic heroism, as if they were using their lives to interpret a belief that transcends life and death.

Once the elderly, weak, women, and children had disrupted the Song army's battle formation, Fang La's elite rebels charged forward to the sound of "battle songs" and engaged in a chaotic battle with the Song army.

This is a combat tactic passed down through Manichaeism for hundreds of years, and it has always been the most effective tactic against government troops.

Often, when encountering weaker government troops, seeing the Manichaeans using such frenzied tactics, their morale would collapse before the battle even began, and the outcome of the ensuing fight would be a foregone conclusion.

As a result, Manichaeans were always able to win against stronger opponents and achieve astonishing victories.

In this crucial battle, Fang Qifo once again chose the battle tactic they were most proficient in.

Soon, the main battlefield between the two sides turned into a chaotic melee.

Fang La's rebel army had the advantage of being fearless and daring, and they were also good at creating chaos, which was more advantageous to them.

The Song army's advantage lay in their superior equipment. Not only did everyone have at least one good gun, but everyone wore armor—even the lowest-ranking soldiers wore paper armor.

Don't assume that paper armor was used to make up for the lack of metal.

When the Later Zhou attacked Huainan, they looted extensively. The people could not bear the burden and rose up in rebellion. They used farm tools as weapons and piled up paper as armor. People at the time called them the "White Armor Army", and their fighting power was extremely strong.

By the Song Dynasty, paper armor had become standard equipment for the Song army.

During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, the Song court produced 30,000 sets of paper armor in one go and distributed them to archers in Fangcheng, Shaanxi.

This paper armor is actually made by mixing extremely soft paper with silk, processing it until it is soft and folded to a thickness of three inches, with four nails per square inch. If it gets wet from water or rain, arrows will have difficulty penetrating it, and it is also very lightweight.

During Zhao Yu's reign, thanks to Ma Xiaojiao's improvements to papermaking technology, both the speed and quantity of paper production were greatly increased. This enabled even Song Jiang's newly recruited rebel army to be equipped with a set of paper armor for each member.

The immediate problem is that the simple bamboo spears in the hands of Fang La's rebel soldiers are hardly able to break through the defenses of the Song soldiers, and even their iron spears are unlikely to inflict fatal damage on the Song soldiers.

If the Song soldiers wearing paper armor were like this, what about the Song generals and officers wearing leather and iron armor? It can be said that Fang La's rebel soldiers often stabbed Song soldiers several times but could not kill a single Song soldier, while the Song soldiers could easily reap the lives of Fang La's rebel soldiers with their sharp swords and spears.

Seeing this scene, Fang Qifo felt heartbroken! He couldn't help but think that if his army were also equipped with such excellent armor, they would surely have won this war.

At the same time, Fang Qifo also understood why Old Buddha Wang had instructed them to recruit rebels indiscriminately, even including the elderly, weak, women, and children who wasted food.

Imagine if he had ten times the number of elderly, weak, women and children, and let them exhaust the Song army's strength, and then he would fight the Song army with his elite troops. Even if the Song army was well-equipped, it would be difficult to escape defeat.

Now, all they can do is fight for it.

At the same time, Wu Yong said to Song Jiang, "The bandits are poorly equipped, yet they dare to fight to the death. Although our troops are well-equipped, they are ultimately lacking in training. If we delay any longer, our casualties will be considerable. Why not abandon the idea of ​​annihilation and use our trump card immediately?"

Overall, Song Jiang's rebel army held a significant advantage in both troop strength and equipment.

Therefore, before the war, Song Jiang and others set a strategic goal of annihilating Fang Qifo's rebel army under Fang La.

But once the fighting started, Song Jiang and the others realized that Fang La's rebel army, which was controlled by Manichaeism, was not something they could easily control, much less something they could easily annihilate.

Song Jiang used his telescope to examine the more than 20,000 reserve troops that Fang Qifeng had not yet deployed. He saw that although this force was mostly infantry, they were all armored and their weapons were of high quality. Many of them were even equipped with the armor of the Song army's imperial guards. He knew that this must be the elite force that Fang Qifeng was using to decide the outcome of the battle.

However, judging from the current situation, Fang Qifo clearly does not want to send out this elite force easily.

Therefore, it is somewhat unlikely that they can completely annihilate Fang Qifo's rebel army under Fang La.

Although unwilling, Song Jiang made a timely choice in order to win this great battle.

"Pass on my order: the Jingse Army shall attack!"

Upon hearing Song Jiang's order, the messenger immediately waved the command flag.

Soon, the sound of galloping warhorses filled the air.

Immediately afterwards, dust billowed up in the Song army's rear!
The earth began to tremble!
There were no war drums, but the power was even more awe-inspiring than war drums; the booming sound was like hundreds of thunderclaps exploding at once!
Soon, Huyan Chuo and his deputy Peng Qi led three hundred Jing Sai soldiers across the main force of the Song army and into the battlefield.

This was the trump card the imperial court had prepared for Song Jiang's rebel army: three hundred sets of heavily armored cavalry equipment.

Huyan Chuo was originally a general of the Jingse Army, so naturally he was the one to form this Jingse Army.

As for Peng Qi, he was originally a Song general who was "defeated" by Song Jiang's rebel army and then joined Song Jiang's rebel army.

Although the Jingse Army led by Huyan Chuo and Peng Qi was newly formed, it was composed of the best cavalry selected by Song Jiang from his 170,000-strong army, and their horses were also the best in the Song Jiang army.

In addition, Huyan Chuo and Peng Qi were both excellent generals and particularly skilled in pacifying the border regions.

This made the three hundred Jingsai soldiers swift as the wind, moving high in the sky; slow as the forest, their accumulated strength finally bursting forth; powerful as fire, born with the force of thunder; and steady as a mountain, their hearts remaining unmoved.

The Jingse Army, composed entirely of armored soldiers and each wielding a gleaming, ten-foot-long spear, appeared like three hundred heavy tanks bursting out of a military base, forming an unstoppable steel torrent that charged straight towards the area where Fang La's rebel army was most concentrated.

Meanwhile, there were still quite a few Song soldiers fighting against Fang La's rebel army there.

However, Hu Yanchuo and Peng Qi, without distinguishing between friend and foe, led the Jingse Army to charge forward.

The Jingse army swept across the battlefield like autumn leaves in the wind, relentlessly crushing everything in its path. Whether it was the fierce resistance of Fang La's rebel army or the chaos and friendly fire suffered by the Song army, all were swallowed up by this unstoppable force. Fang La's rebel army, which had previously been fighting fiercely against the Song army, was immediately routed.

Faced with the onslaught of this overwhelming tide of steel that was beyond human control, Fang La's rebel army began to waver like never before.

Then, the Jingse army charged wildly and recklessly, and Fang La's already loose battle formation was immediately broken up...

Taking advantage of this momentum, Song Jiang, who was commanding the battle from a high vantage point, decisively ordered the war drums to be beaten and launched a general offensive against Fang La's rebel army.

As the war drums sounded, Song Jiang's remaining 10,000 light cavalry charged into the enemy ranks, hacking down any soldiers of Fang La's rebel army they encountered...

The situation of Fang La's rebel army immediately took a sharp turn for the worse.

Unfortunately, in the era of cold weapons, the confrontation between cavalry and infantry was a contest of overwhelming odds.

Take the battle before us as an example. More than 10,000 light cavalrymen poured into the battlefield like a flood bursting its banks, and their impact was immediately and vividly demonstrated.

When a well-trained Song cavalryman charged into Fang La's infantry ranks on his horse at high speed, he could easily sever the necks or even the bodies of Fang La's soldiers with each swing of his sword.

Roughly estimated, a light cavalryman can kill three to five defenseless infantrymen in just a dozen seconds during a single charge.

Moreover, cavalry has an overwhelming advantage in mobility. Their movement speed is three to four times that of infantry, enabling them to complete tactical maneuvers such as flanking maneuvers and encirclements in a very short time.

Once dispersed, the Song army's more than 10,000 light cavalry could quickly maneuver across the battlefield within a radius of several miles. Within ten minutes, they could launch successive attacks on Fang La's rebel infantry scattered in different areas, leaving the infantry no time to organize an effective defensive formation.

In contrast, once an infantry formation is broken, it is extremely difficult for them to regroup. Cavalry, on the other hand, can use their speed advantage to constantly harass and divide infantry ranks.

Statistics show that when the ratio of cavalry to infantry reaches one to five, as long as the tactics are used properly, the cavalry can still completely disrupt the infantry formation with their mobility and impact, plunging them into chaos and panic.

In this battle, Fang La's infantry, facing the Song army's light cavalry, were like lambs to the slaughter, utterly powerless.

Fang Qifo stood on high ground, watching his own rebel army being slaughtered by the Song cavalry, his heart aching. He watched helplessly as the Song cavalry charged repeatedly from different directions, each charge taking the lives of countless rebel soldiers.

Under the onslaught of the Song army's cavalry, Fang La's rebel army suffered more than 10,000 casualties in less than half an hour. Moreover, Fang La's rebel army had been cut into dozens of small, scattered groups by the Song army, making it difficult for them to coordinate and support each other. They could only fight independently and wait to be defeated one by one by the Song army.

Seeing this, Fang Qifo was left with only two choices: either stake all his reserves on one last attempt, or flee.

Fang Qifo wanted to try again, but when he saw that the Song army still had at least 50,000 to 60,000 well-equipped soldiers who had not yet been deployed, he immediately lost the courage to make a desperate gamble.

"Song Jiang, I didn't lose to you, but to the Song Dynasty behind you!"

No wonder Fang Qifo was unconvinced.

If Song Jiang's rebel army hadn't changed their equipment, the outcome of this battle would have been uncertain.

It could even be said that if Fang Qifo had known earlier that Song Jiang's rebel army had changed its uniform and that the imperial court had reinforced Song Jiang's rebel army with two elite cavalry units, he probably wouldn't have fought this battle with Song Jiang.

Now, having no other choice, Fang Qifo had to issue the order to retreat.

With Fang Qifo leading the escape, Fang La's rebel army, which was already on the verge of collapse, immediately crumbled.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yao Pingzhong, whose martial arts skills were among the best in the Western Army, swept Fang Baihua off her horse with a single spear thrust.

At the same time, Liu Guangshi stopped Chen Miaozhen, who had lost her gun, and said politely, "Young lady, don't be afraid, my emperor wants to see you."

Just as Yao Pingzhong captured Fang Baihua and Liu Guangshi "persuaded" Chen Miaozhen to meet Zhao Yu, Song Jiang issued an order for a full-scale pursuit.

Upon seeing this, Yao Pingzhong and Liu Guangshi unanimously entrusted Fang Baihua and Chen Miaozhen to their most trusted confidants, instructing them to take them to Song Jiang. Then, they personally led their respective men to join the main force in ambush and kill Fang La's rebel army...

……

(End of this chapter)