The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 462 Han Shizhong VS Nie Erbojin
Yue Yun has made his appearance with the three hundred sets of Iron Pagoda armor that he obtained from the Northern Song Dynasty!

He selected three hundred strong, tall, and fearless warriors from Yue Fei's army and had them wear these three hundred suits of heavy armor.

Three hundred massive iron lumps blocked the Jin army's retreat as soon as they appeared.

Upon seeing this, Jin Jiang was completely stunned: "Iron Pagoda, it's our Iron Pagoda."

"Damn it, were we ambushed by the Northern Song Dynasty?"

"No, it couldn't be the Northern Song Dynasty. The Northern Song Dynasty used firearms, while these people used bows and arrows."

"They are from the Southern Song Dynasty!"

"Damn it, where did the Southern Song Dynasty get these red iron cavalry armors? Aren't they something the Northern Song Dynasty only had?"

"Never mind that, charge!"

If the Jin army wanted to break out of the encirclement, they had to break through these three hundred iron pagodas.

A barrage of arrows rained down on the red ironclad cavalry.

However, they immediately felt the same despair that the Song army had felt when facing the Jin army's Iron Pagoda. Arrows hitting the Iron Pagoda were like tickling, only producing a clanging sound.

The Ironclad Pagodas don't need to fight back; they just need to block the mountain path behind them and prevent them from retreating!

Jin Jiang panicked: "Charge! Rout them!"

The Jin soldiers put away their bows and arrows, took out spears, sabers and other weapons, and charged towards the Iron Pagoda.

The spear pierced the Ironclad Pagoda with a dull thud, sending the Ironclad Pagoda staggering backward until it collided with its comrades. However, it was not pierced by the spear. The red armor seemed to be mocking the Jin soldiers: "How about that? You can't even pierce your own Ironclad Pagoda."

The Ironclad Cavalry took up their weapons and fought back fiercely.

In the blink of an eye, the Jin soldiers in the front row were hacked to pieces.

The Jin soldiers were utterly bewildered. They had faced the Southern Song's heavy infantry before, but those heavy infantry were utterly useless. They had thick armor, but when it came to fighting, they were cowards, more cowardly than rats. Tong Guan's army was a prime example.

But these heavy infantrymen in front of us are completely different. They are all brave and daring. Facing the spears and sabers of the Jin army, they don't even blink. They fight with the spirit of "trading lives for lives", which allows them to fully utilize the advantages of heavy infantry.

You slash me, I slash you; I have heavy armor, you can't hurt me; you don't have heavy armor, I'll take you down with one strike.

The Jin soldiers cried out in injustice!
"Damn it, these soldiers are not normal. Which Song army is this?"

"Han Shizhong, must be one of Han Shizhong's men."

"No, Han Shizhong likes to use tricks in battle; he's more flexible and cunning! These people are nothing like Han Shizhong."

"Analyze your mother, charge out!"

The Jin soldiers had no choice but to force their way forward with their warhorses.

Although the Ironclad Pagoda is tough, if a warhorse rams into it head-on, it will still get a big thud on its backside.

Despite heavy sacrifices, the Jin army finally managed to force its way through three hundred iron cavalry blocking their path, creating a passage before departing triumphantly.

But while some ran fast, others ran slow. Many Jin soldiers were unable to escape and had no choice but to kneel and surrender.

When Yue Yun finally took stock of the battlefield, he found that he had captured more than 200 Jin soldiers alive and killed more than 300.

Of the two thousand Jin soldiers who entered Zhongyang Mountain, only a little over fourteen hundred returned.

This can be considered a major victory.

On the other side, Fangcheng!

Nie Erbojin led the main force of the Jin army, a force of ten thousand, marching menacingly towards Fangcheng. Sure enough, as Wei Liangchen had said, they didn't see a single Song soldier along the way. Could it be that the Song soldiers had truly become estranged due to the issue of military supplies, and that Han Shizhong had really retreated back to the south bank of the Yangtze River?

Nie Erbojin was overjoyed!

At this time, the Jin army feared Han Shizhong the most, not Yue Fei.

Because Yue Fei had spent the previous few years suppressing Manichaeism in Dongting Lake, he had not yet fought any major battles with the Jin army, and his powerful military talent was not yet known to the Jin army.

Han Shizhong was different. After his great victory over Jin Wuzhu at Huangtiandang, he had become "the number one general of the Southern Song Dynasty in the eyes of the Jin people".

For the Jin Dynasty, what was the difference between Han Shizhong's withdrawal of troops and the Southern Song Dynasty's surrender?
Nie Erbojin just wanted to burst into laughter three times...

He opened his mouth, but before he could even laugh out loud, he suddenly heard three loud laughs from the nearby woods: "Hahaha!"

Nie Erbojin: "?"

The next instant, he saw Han Shizhong's face.

Han Shizhong, whose face was full of the slick smile of a seasoned soldier, suddenly turned extremely fierce after chuckling three times: "Kill!"

At the same time, from four directions, the sounds of battle shook the heavens.

Countless Song soldiers charged out.

Leading the charge were large numbers of spearmen wielding extremely long spears, while following behind them were Han Shizhong's elite "Beiwei Army," armed with heavy axes, specifically targeting the Iron Pagoda Cavalry.

It is worth mentioning here that before the Song army adopted the Divine Arm Crossbow on a large scale to deal with the Iron Pagoda, Han Shizhong's method for dealing with the Iron Pagoda was "Heavy Axemen".

The History of Song records: "The government troops used spears to remove his helmet, and used large axes to cut off his arm and smash his head."

In layman's terms: use a long spear to knock off the helmet of the Ironclad Pagoda, use a heavy axe to chop off the opponent's arm, and then chop off the head of the one without a helmet.

The heavy axe is not long, and if it encounters the enemy's spear formation, the heavy axemen will be sent to their deaths. Therefore, a large number of spearmen are needed in front of the heavy axemen to fight the enemy's spearmen and suppress them first before the heavy axemen can move in.

Han Shizhong ordered the Beiwei Army to each take a long axe and chop at the chests of the men and the hooves of the horses. The Jin army was trapped in the mud and both men and horses died.

Jin general Tabo led several hundred iron cavalry charges into Han Shizhong's army formation, but was cut down by the Beiwei Army and captured alive.

Nie Erbojin was terrified when she saw Han Shizhong!

Even Jin Wuzhu's 300,000-strong army couldn't defeat Han Shizhong, and Nie'erbojin only led 10,000 men, who were ambushed. How could he possibly fight Han Shizhong? Their morale plummeted!
But then he saw that his fierce general, Tabo, had also led his Iron Pagoda army to defeat, and he became even more panicked.

Then I turned my head and looked again...

Suddenly, five hundred red ironclad cavalrymen emerged and slaughtered their way out.

Han Shizhong's troop deployment was very cunning. He wouldn't just send out heavy infantry right from the start, because heavy infantry is countered by heavy cavalry! Playing that card at the beginning would easily lead to a royal flush, so he first used the Beiwei Army to deal with the enemy's Iron Pagoda, and then sent his own heavy infantry into the battlefield.

Now no one can control them.

Five hundred red Ironclad Cavalrymen hacked and slashed at anyone in their path, killing men and horses alike. The Beiwei Army immediately followed, using the heavy infantry as cover, their heavy axes swung like they were unleashing a Musou attack.

Nie Erbojin didn't even dare to fight back, and turned to run away.

The 10,000 Jin soldiers had no choice but to retreat. However, the Jin army did not collapse after their defeat. As soon as they retreated slightly, several groups of cavalrymen immediately launched a counterattack.

Han Shizhong's subordinate, Dong Min, had been waiting on the flank of the battlefield for a long time. He immediately intercepted a Jin cavalryman and killed him, sending him sprawling.

The two sides fought thirteen fierce battles in one day, with the Jin army losing every single one, ultimately ending in a great victory for Han Shizhong.

(End of this chapter)