The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 323 The Army of 100,000
None of the Yan'an soldiers were afraid; they quickly drew their weapons and jumped onto the grain carts.

The auxiliary soldiers and laborers were still afraid, and no one dared to jump out with the Sui post station people. However, they were a little better than before. Many of them picked up weapons and hid behind the grain carts. With a grain cart in front of them to block their way, they felt much more at ease.

At this point, the fastest-charging thief had already entered the range of the muskets.

Sui Yi knew the importance of morale. He couldn't let his auxiliary troops and laborers be scared away, otherwise his thousand Yan'an soldiers wouldn't be enough to overwhelm a hundred thousand men... The most urgent task was to boost his own morale and suppress the enemy's.

Sui Yi roared, "Archery, fire!"

The Yan'an soldiers had been with the Northern Song army for several months and were equipped with a number of smoothbore muskets. Some Yan'an soldiers immediately took out their muskets and aimed... but there seemed to be no need to aim. 100,000 men were running towards them, what was the point of aiming? They could shoot from a great distance, and it was impossible for them to miss.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The first batch of arquebuses fired...

Nearly a hundred of the bandits who charged at the front fell instantly.

There were so many of them, so densely packed, that it was hard to miss with a musket. Only bullets that hit the ground would miss; as long as the bullets were flying straight ahead, they could be hit easily.

This thing makes a loud bang, and people on the other side fall down. For someone who has never encountered this thing before, it is truly terrifying.

Li Cheng's head was buzzing; he was a little confused about what the other side was playing.

His bandit soldiers weren't just confused, they were terrified: "Sorcery! Sorcery!"

Meanwhile, the auxiliary soldiers and laborers on the Northern Song side were immediately invigorated: "That's right, what are we panicking for? We have firearms, and our regular soldiers are very powerful!"

Once their morale stabilized, they weren't so anxious to escape.

The auxiliary soldiers and laborers also took out their spears. They tied the grain carts together to form a low wall, hid behind the carts, and held their spears, giving off a "I'll stab anyone who comes near" vibe, which was quite intimidating.

Meanwhile, the Yan'an soldiers jumped off the grain carts and hid behind them. The soldiers who had just fired a shot were now frantically reloading the muskets. They had only been training for a few months and were not yet proficient with the muskets, so their loading movements were clumsy and disorganized.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Another round of musket fire ensued, and another swathe of enemy soldiers fell in the front ranks.

The musketeers wanted to reload, but they saw that the fastest-charging bandit was already close, and it was too late to reload a third shot.

Sui Yi chuckled: "Back when we went out to kill people with General Pang Di, we didn't need muskets and we weren't afraid at all. Now you guys are the ones who are scared."

"I didn't back down! I didn't back down at all!"

Sui Yi drew his spear in a flash: "Then why are you still loading it? Throw the Firebird to the laborers, draw your knives, and come at me!"

"Ouch!"

The Yan'an soldiers picked up their spears and hid behind the grain carts, just like the laborers, using the carts as cover to poke around randomly...

The bandit army surged forward in a dense, dark mass, and soon a long wall of grain carts blocked their path.

The more valiant bandits tried to jump onto the grain carts to attack the Northern Song soldiers behind them, but most of the bandits had their eyes on the grain on the carts. As soon as they rushed to the side of the carts, they reached out to grab the grain bags... They lost their composure before the fighting even started.

The Yan'an soldiers hiding behind the vehicle were not about to miss such a good opportunity. They raised their spears and started stabbing the enemy repeatedly.

Several bandits were immediately stabbed and fell to the ground in front of the grain cart...

They were injured but not dead, but the crowd surged up behind them and stomped on them with their huge feet, and those who were still alive could not survive.

The area in front of the grain carts was crowded and jostled, with countless people packed together.

Without any formation or system, they just charged around haphazardly, completely lacking discipline. Even if Li Cheng shouted himself hoarse, he couldn't rouse his army; the whole scene was utter chaos.

Just then... a drumbeat suddenly sounded in the distance.

Qi Chongwen's troops, who were hiding three miles behind the grain transport team, rushed over.

Qi Chongwen's troops were ordered to hide three to five miles behind the grain transport team.

He wasn't very confident in his strategic command abilities, always feeling that staying five miles away was too far, so he tried to get as close as possible, thus only staying three miles away from the vanguard...

Upon hearing the sound of muskets firing ahead, Qi Chongwen panicked and yelled, "Quickly, quickly, go and reinforce!"

However, he also knew that if his army ran three miles at top speed and arrived at the destination exhausted and without the strength to fight, that would definitely not work.

So Qi Chongwen did something unconventional: he started beating the drums when he was still two miles away from the enemy.

"I haven't arrived yet, but my drumming has, so that counts as reinforcements, right?"

This tactic would be tantamount to self-examination if used in a "surprise attack on the enemy," but it is surprisingly effective in this situation.

The 100,000-strong bandit army included many elderly, weak, women and children. They were already lacking in loyalty and righteousness, and many of them were thinking, "I'll just grab a bag of grain and run." They had no morale or determination to fight the enemy to the death.

After being hit by a volley of fire, I was extremely panicked.

Later, they were blocked by the grain cart formation and could not break through. When they tried to reach out and grab the grain, they were stabbed over by spears sticking out from the gaps between the grain carts.

These bandits were actually on the verge of morale collapse. Under such circumstances, when they suddenly heard the enemy's drums coming from another direction, how could they not panic?

"Ah, reinforcements from the Northern Song army have arrived."

"My God, why would they have reinforcements in that direction?"

"impossible!"

"Isn't their army fighting the Southern Song army for Chuzhou?"

"It's over, we must have fallen into a trap."

The bandit army collapsed!
Li Cheng roared, "Don't be afraid! What are we, 100,000 men, afraid of?"

No one pays attention to him!

The distraught bandits rushed past him, not even glancing at his banner.

Qi Chongwen's men finally emerged from the northern horizon. He was prepared for a fierce battle, but to his surprise, the enormous enemy force, a massive army of at least 100,000 men, was actually collapsing and fleeing...

Qi Chongwen was filled with admiration: "The Yan'an Army is truly formidable!"

Qi family member: "Master, hurry and capture the prisoners!"

"Ah, right, right, capture prisoners." Qi Chongwen perked up: "Young Master Yue loves capturing prisoners the most. He sends all the captured prisoners to mine. He loves this. The more prisoners he captures, the greater his merit."

"Caught alive!"

Qi Chongwen's army charged forward with roars...

Someone shouted, "Kill anyone who resists!"

Someone shouted, "Put down your weapons, cover your head, and squat down, and I'll spare your life."

(End of this chapter)