There are a large number of Hedi towns and Hedi villages in Shanxi. This is because naturally formed villages and towns are often located in flat and low-lying areas of river valleys.
Hedi Town on the northern border of the Pingding Army was known as Qinglong Town, Qingzhen, etc. in the past dynasties.
Wanyan Loushi led his troops here, but suddenly stopped because the terrain ahead was too dangerous.
Like a hunter's innate intuition, Wanyan Loushi looked at the northern ridge extending from Fangshan Mountain and the narrow valley passage between the ridges. His first reaction was that he would get into the hunter's trap if he went any further.
There are also many Fangshan Mountains in Shanxi, and Fangshan Mountain here is the Liubei Mountain in later generations.
A Jin man of about thirty years old lay on the ground and drew a map on the spot: "There is a Fangshan Mountain in the southwest. If the Ming army sets up a stronghold on Fangshan Mountain, they can observe and intimidate all the surrounding hills and plains. Fangshan Mountain extends to the northeast, and at the foot of the mountain
There is a river, which is the river in front of us. The intersection of this river and another river is the valley entrance channel in front of us. The other river flows southeast, following another big mountain..."
To put it more intuitively, the remaining veins of the two mountains extend diagonally to the north, forming a very regular figure of eight.
The top opening of the horoscope is the river valley passage, and within the horoscope are open hills and plains.
The tail of the horoscope is the square mountain that controls the entire battlefield.
The figure-eight-shaped mountains are not steep, and there are some passages that can be passed through. In some places, infantry can even run in large groups, but the running of cavalry will be seriously hindered.
This is a natural battlefield and a natural cage. As long as Wanyan Loushi dares to come in, it goes without saying that he will win the battle, but if he loses, the whole army may be annihilated.
Wanyan Loushi asked: "Can we go around to the southeast?"
The Jin man who drew the map said: "If you can go around it, there is a village called Juchengdu (Jucheng Town). It was a walled city a long time ago. After the Song Dynasty established the Pingding Army and Chengtian Village, the walls of Juchengdu collapsed and were abandoned.
Already."
That is, along the outside of the eight-character chain and down the river valley, you can reach the end of the eight-character chain.
There is another valley mouth there, which can go around into the interior of Bazi to the west, and belongs to the northern passage of Jingxing to the east.
Wanyan Loushi said: "Set camp here and send Qingqi to the southeast to explore."
The Jin man who drew the map out of thin air was called Wen Du Sizhong. When the Jin Kingdom was founded, military secrets were all dictated, and Wen Du Sizhong was the best among the heralds.
It can be called a humanoid memory!
When he was a boy, this man served as the herald of Aguda, and later he followed Wanyan Zonghan. Later, he was favored by Jin Wushu. Even when Liu Yu was canonized as the puppet emperor, this guy was responsible for delivering the order. When Wanyan Liang became emperor,
At that time, this man had even more power in the government and the public, ranking above the prime minister of the Jin Kingdom. He was left out in the cold because he opposed Wanyan Liang's southern expedition.
The Qingqi sent by Wanyan Loushi to explore the road quickly traveled southeast along the river valley. After running for more than ten miles, they encountered an ambush.
Arrows rained down from the mountains on both sides. They climbed the mountain with the arrows on their head. More than 20 people were killed and injured. They finally climbed up, but all the archers who were ambush there ran away.
These Jin cavalry returned to the valley and continued to advance on horseback. They were attacked again before they had gone far.
More than 50 people were killed or injured before and after. Jin Guo Qingqi did not dare to enter any further and ran back dejectedly to report the situation.
The situation has been made clear. The Ming army has a trap within the eight characters, and only the Jin soldiers are allowed to enter from the top of the eight characters.
Wanyan Loushi had never been to this area in person, so he asked: "Detour from the southeast, what's the terrain like along the way?"
Wen Du Sizhong replied: "It's all a river valley, so it's difficult for the cavalry to fight."
"In other words, the passage in front of us is the widest and most conducive to cavalry combat?" Wanyan Loushi asked.
Wen Du Sizhong nodded: "That's true."
Wanyan Huonv said: "Why should father be afraid? No matter what ambush he has, we have more than 10,000 elites. We can ride horses and shoot arrows to defeat him all the way!"
Wanyan Huonv is the eldest son of Wanyan Lou. She fought with Aguda at the age of seventeen. Every time she defeated the greater number with less, she has never lost a battle. In history, when the Zhongshi saved Taiyuan, he was defeated by this man.
annihilated.
Since the day when the army went into battle, Wanyan Huonu has been fighting hard battles, using three hundred to defeat two thousand, one thousand to defeat eight thousand, and one thousand to defeat twenty thousand.
With such combat experience and under the age of thirty, Wanyan Huonv was extremely confident. He believed that there was no enemy in the world that he could not defeat.
Wanyan Lou's family owned the Tiefutu (Hezha Mengan), and Wanyan Huonv was the strong general who commanded the Tiefutu, and later inherited all the Tiefutu of the Jin Kingdom's West Route Army!
"It's better to be careful." Wanyan Po Lu Huo said.
Balu Huo was also a strong general who was moved by his clan to Taizhou to rule the vast grasslands there. Including the Hulunbuir grassland further north, it was also nominally ruled by Balu Huo. This time he not only brought Jurchen cavalry, but also brought
Many steppe tribe cavalry.
Wan Yan Huo Nu sneered: "Are you so courageous?"
Po Luhuo was extremely unhappy. After all, he was older and belonged to a serious clan member of the Jin Kingdom. His ancestors were cousins with A Guda's biological father. His nephew was also adopted as an adopted son by A Guda.
Who is a beautiful woman? The bloodline of the clan is so thin that it can be ignored!
Similarly, Wan Yanhuo Nu did not take Balu Huo seriously either, and he set up a battle to throw Balu Huo out of the eight streets.
Moreover, Po Luhuo is obviously a member of Wanyan Zonghan, but he has a close relationship with Shizu. Po Luhuo's current identity can even be said to be one of the supervisors sent by the Jin Kingdom!
When Po Luhuo was about to speak to retort, Sheng Guo beside him winked at him, signaling him not to argue again.
Both of them are military supervisors and are not welcome here in Shanxi.
The Jurchen name of Wanyan Shengguo has the same name and surname as Wanyan Zongjun, the son of Aguda, but they are not the same person.
Like Balu Huo, his territory is at the junction of the Jin Dynasty court and Wanyan Zonghan. He belongs to the buffer zone between the two major forces. It is unclear which faction he belongs to. He is both a supervisor sent by the Jin Dynasty court and Wanyan Zonghan.
His general.
There was a clan member named Wanyan Saili nearby, who stood obediently and listened to the quarrel.
Although he has been fighting for many years, he has always been a little transparent and has not made much military exploits. Later, he captured Zhao Gou's biological mother, wife and two younger sisters, and became the left prime minister of the Jin Kingdom. Only then did he become famous in the Southern Song Dynasty.
"King Gaitian". (It is said that Zhao Gou's biological mother was this man's concubine.)
After quarreling for a while, they finally had to fight, so the generals began to discuss the war again.
Most of the senior generals of the Jin Kingdom suggested continuing the march and sending more light cavalry for reconnaissance.
Wanyan Loushi said: "The Ming Dynasty is different from the Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty. Two years ago, Prince Zhu once ate a thousand Hezha Meng'an. I heard that he used some kind of firecrackers and artillery. The Xia Kingdom also explained the army's firearms
It's amazing. They suffered a huge defeat last year, and there might be firearms lurking ahead. Han Chang, you Han craftsmen are very powerful, can you tell me what you can do to deal with firearms?"
Han Chang was of Han origin in the Liao Kingdom. He paid gold with his biological father and was rumored to be able to shoot a powerful three-stone bow. He is currently following Wanyan Zonghan, and later he was under the command of Jin Wushu, and he would always be the forward for Jin Wushu in every battle.
Han Chang said: "The Marshal (Wanyan Zonghan) also asked about this, but the last general has never seen the Ming army's firearms. He only learned from others that the firearms include firecrackers and artillery. They are all made of iron tubes and can be ignited.
When the medicine is sprayed out, its power can break gold and stone. The marshal was doubtful about this, thinking that the Eastern Route Army and the Xia people were making alarmist claims."
Wanyan Loushi shook his head: "Only one party said this, and it might be an exaggeration. Both the East Route Army and the Xia people said so, those firearms must be outstanding. When we go there this time, the reconnaissance cavalry must be careful and leave the battlefield
Make inquiries everywhere and avoid being ambushed by firearms."
The next day, Wanyan Loushi, with a large number of light cavalry as the vanguard, penetrated into the pocket array deployed by Zhang Guangdao.
And he was careful every step and moved very slowly.
…
Shouyang County.
The tunnel dug by Wanyan Zonghan was destroyed by Guo Yaoshi's flooding.
Although Yaoshi Guo did not have muskets and artillery, he did have a lot of rockets, which could focus on burning large siege equipment.
Moreover, Shouyang County is surrounded by mountains and backed by a natural river with no shortage of water.
The most suitable place for Wanyan Zonghan to attack the city is the valley plain more than three miles wide on the west side. Guo Yaoshi personally led the troops to defend this place. The city can also be attacked from the north, but large siege equipment is inconvenient to advance.
The siegeable area in the east is narrower and has to be bypassed over the mountains. There are not many siege troops there.
Further east, there is a river valley leading to Zhang Guangdao's army, which is cut off by a Ming army fort that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Wanyan Zonghan has become impatient now. Due to being unable to attack for a long time, the morale of Shanxi's puppet Han army is low, and they feel that they are in the way when they serve as siege cannon fodder. These cannon fodder can indeed tire the defenders and consume the defensive materials, but every time they retreat, they will have an impact.
The morale of the friendly forces is great.
The Bohai soldiers and the old Liao and Han soldiers also didn't want to fight. They fought bravely at the beginning, and even now they don't want to die.
The hard Jurchen army was sent to attack several times, and they attacked the city seven times, but they were unable to gain a foothold and were all killed back by Guo Yaoshi's elite troops.
Both the offensive and defensive sides suffered heavy casualties.
at night.
There was a noise in the east, and Wanyan Zonghan quickly restrained his troops and climbed up the mountain to check the situation in person.
After a while, the remaining soldiers fled back one after another.
A Jurchen general gasped and said: "Marshal, Dong Daying was attacked at night!"
Wanyan Zonghan asked: "Aren't you told to guard the camp?"
The Jurchen general explained: "The enemy did not attack from the west (Guo Yaoshi), nor did he attack from the east (Zhang Guangdao's reinforcements), but suddenly came from the mountains in the south!"
However, Zhang Guangdao sent brothers Zhai Xing and Zhai Jin to return by boat with 6,000 elite troops.
They found out that Jin Bing's Dongda Camp was on guard, and spent another three days climbing over the mountains and detouring to the southern mountains to conduct a night attack on Jin Bing's Dongda Camp, which had only a few thousand troops.
It was not only the work of the Zhai brothers, but also Guo Yaoshi who took the risk to send troops.
"Father, there is a fire in the Jin Camp in the east of the city, but it started from the south of the camp."
"Move troops out of the city quickly, reinforcements must be coming!"
"Could it be a scam?"
"Even if there is a scam, go ahead!"
Pharmacist Guo personally led eight hundred warriors from the east city of Shouyang County to cooperate with the Zhai brothers in a joint attack.
Most of the golden soldiers in the camp had no time to put on their armor.
The elite troops of the Zhai brothers, as well as Guo Yaoshi's rotating garrison troops, were fully equipped with armor. Under such circumstances, coupled with the night attack from two sides, the Jin soldiers' Dong Daying camp was defeated and fled.
The defeated troops fled into the mountains in the northeast. Wanyan Zonghan sent people to respond, but the Ming army retreated without pursuing them.
In this battle, more than a thousand Jin soldiers were killed, hundreds were captured, more than 6,000 were defeated, and the enemy camp was torn apart to open the way for reinforcements to enter the city.
"Brother Zhai, you are finally here!" Pharmacist Guo held Zhai Xing's hand and wanted to cry.
Zhai Xing said: "The pacification of the military city has been captured by our army. General Guo is able to hold on to Shouyang, which is a great achievement!"
Pharmacist Guo sighed: "It's good that you come back. All of my old brothers from Liaodong have been injured, and more than 600 people have died in the battle. The remaining soldiers and civilians have also suffered more than 4,000 casualties. If we fight for a few more days, we may not be able to hold on.
But the Jin people can’t please them either, they have more casualties!”
More reinforcements came from the direction of the river valley and entered Shouyang City on the afternoon of the second day.
Six thousand elite troops were added, and most of the original defenders were replaced to rest. Shouyang City was already impregnable.
Wanyan Zonghan tried to organize an attack, but soon gave up the idea of taking Shouyang. He ordered the army to retreat, and retreated swaggeringly, trying to attract the defenders to come out of the city to pursue them.
But Pharmacist Guo, Zhai Xing, and Zhai Rang ignored him and just guarded the city.
In desperation, Wanyan Zonghan could only say: "The whole army marches eastward and meets up with Oriyan (Wanyan Loushi)!"