The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Let's learn from Chapter 421.

Jin Wuzhu was furious: "These damned Mongols! Next time we go to the grasslands, we'll slaughter every Mongol tribe we see!"

Now he was certain that the head of Meng An that was hanging on the other side was real!
However, don't panic. Another thousand-man team has also gone to harass the area. That team might be burning, killing, and looting in Qiao County, turning the rear of the Northern Song army into a mess. As long as one of the teams does this, the Northern Song will panic and collapse without a fight.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard the thunderous sound of hooves. A cavalry unit of the Northern Song army was returning from the southeast.

This cavalry unit consisted of about eight hundred riders, all riding tall Shandong horses. The riders on the horses were all tall and imposing Shandong men. Each of them wore a polished, gleaming breastplate that, even from a distance, was so bright in the sunlight that it could blind a dog.

Li Cheng was shocked: "Heavy cavalry! So the Northern Song Dynasty already had heavy cavalry units."

Jin Wuzhu's eyes narrowed like a fox's: "What are you afraid of? Look closely, the armor of these heavy cavalrymen of the Northern Song Dynasty only protects the main body, not the hands and feet. Just by looking at the cavalrymen's agile movements, you can tell that their shiny breastplates are much thinner than the armor of our Iron Pagoda."

Li Cheng looked carefully and understood.

Jin Wuzhu laughed and said, "Our Iron Pagoda can take on three, no, five heavy cavalrymen with this kind of equipment."

Li Cheng felt somewhat relieved after hearing what he said.

Jin Wuzhu continued, "Right now, the only thing the enemy can rely on is firearms."

At this point, Jin Wuzhu also had a bit of a headache. The reason he was setting up his troops here but not in a hurry to attack was that he had not yet figured out the best way to deal with firearms. After thinking it over, he could only rely on human lives to make up for it.

Using the lives of the Jurchens to build up the population was absolutely impossible, so the only option was to use the lives of the people of the pseudo-Qi state.

His gaze couldn't help but linger on Li Cheng...

Li Cheng felt a little uneasy under his gaze.

While the two were still pondering, Niu Gao and Yi Zhangqing from the Northern Song army quickly arrived in front of Gong Er Niangzi and Yue Wenxuan.

Niu Gao: "Ah, so Young Master Yue has already returned ahead of me. I was a little worried about you."

Yue Wenxuan smiled: "How is the battle going?"

Niu Gao said with great joy, "The cuirassiers are really powerful. Whether it's shooting or slashing, they are better than the cuirassiers. They are a little slower, but with the support of the Grey Fortress, the enemy cuirassiers can't run fast. We easily wiped out more than half of them."

Yue Wenxuan nodded; he wasn't surprised at all by this result.

Gong Erniangzi nodded to Yizhangqing. As they were both female generals, they had a natural affinity for each other. Gong Erniangzi said, "General Yizhangqing, now that you have returned, we are about to begin the decisive battle. Please lead the cuirassiers and wait on the flank of the battlefield, ready to act according to my orders."

Yi Zhangqing clasped his hands in a salute: "This humble general obeys!"

Niu Gao rubbed his hands excitedly: "A battle is coming? A decisive battle? Oh, I really want to be on the battlefield! But my men haven't been trained in firearms yet, and they only know the old fighting methods. What should we do?"

Yue Wenxuan: "General Niu, gather most of your men and General Peng Qi's troops together and follow behind General Yizhangqing. After the cuirassiers open up the situation, your men can go out and clean up the mess. Don't engage in a direct confrontation with the enemy formation, lest you be unable to coordinate with your allies or even block their firepower."

Niu Gao nodded.

Yue Wenxuan added, "By the way, have some of your best archers follow our skirmishers and learn how skirmishers fight."

Niu Gao: "Ah, right, I almost forgot about that." Niu Gao quickly went to prepare, and soon he arranged for more than a dozen of the best archers to come over, and dispersed them into several scattered units of the Northern Song army.

These archers don't know how to use rifled muskets yet, but they know muskets are powerful, so they're really studying with their eyes wide open.

An archer followed a squad of six skirmishers to the side of the battlefield.

The stragglers found a small ditch, lay down inside, and only their faces were sticking out from the edge of the ditch to look out.

The archer was experiencing this "leaving the battle formation" tactic for the first time, and he was filled with surprise and a little fear. Including himself, there were seven people in the team. If they encountered a large enemy force, what use would seven people be? They would only face certain death.

The archer was filled with trepidation!

The skirmishers, however, were quite relaxed. The squad leader even pointed at a well-dressed man in the enemy ranks and said, "Everyone, watch out for that guy. He looks like he's going to pass in front of us. I'll take him out in a bit!"

Another soldier laughed and said, "Then that young officer in green a few dozen steps behind him is mine."

One of the stragglers said, "The guy with the red rope tied to his arm is mine."

The six skirmishers quickly locked onto six enemies, each brimming with confidence, exuding an air of certainty that "his life is already mine."

The archer was utterly astonished: "So far! You really managed to take down the enemy's general from this distance?"
The squad leader turned to the archer and grinned, "New guy, keep your eyes peeled and learn quickly. Once you've mastered it, you can join our squad. Hehehe, I guarantee you'll live a life of luxury and earn endless military merits."

Not long after the cuirassiers returned to their posts, Lady Gong Er was about to order the start of war.

It turns out that the Northern Song army had been maintaining a stalemate with the Jin army in battle formation, simply waiting for the return of the cuirassiers, not because they were afraid of fighting.

Now that the cuirassiers are back, what else is there to wait for?

Gong Erniangzi ordered, "Tell Zhang Yong that we can begin the fight."

The messenger immediately grabbed a small flag and ran quickly from under the banner to the artillery position, shouting, "Lady Gong has ordered that the artillery may fire!"

Zhang Yong's spirits lifted: "Hahaha! Brothers, we've got a job!"

Gong Erniangzi led the main force and carried the most cannons. Zhang Yong was a student of Napoleon. To be fair, this artillery battalion was the most powerful in the entire Northern Song Dynasty.

Zhang Yong pointed to the densest part of the enemy's catapult formation: "Shoot the enemy's catapults first."

Meanwhile, Jin Wuzhu was still questioning the fleeing cavalrymen who had just escaped: "What did you say? You were driven back by their heavy cavalry? How could heavy cavalry catch you? What? Gray Fortress? What the hell is that?"

As he was speaking, he suddenly heard a series of booming sounds. Just as he was about to look in the direction of the sound, he heard a scream from his own army ranks: "Ah, ah! The cannons are coming!"

With a "crack," a huge catapult was hit by a shell, its main beam broke, and splinters of wood flew everywhere.

Jin Wuzhu turned around in astonishment and saw that Li Chengjun's trebuchet position was in complete ruins...

(End of this chapter)