Monk Wanyan Chen reacted very quickly. As soon as the horse's back tilted, he held on to the saddle bridge and flew up.
Relying on the heavy armor he was wearing, he rolled on the ground two or three times, barely able to stabilize his body. Even so, his face was covered in blood from being hit by the sand and gravel, and his arm and ankle on one side were so painful that they felt like they were about to break. . Looking back, I saw that the front legs of the war horse were broken and could no longer be used.
"Change horses!" Monk Wanyan Chen knelt down on one knee and shouted.
The cavalry did not stop running at all, and the rear team had already arrived with the horses. Monk Wanyan Chen gritted his teeth, followed the horses for a few steps, and got on the horse's back.
He shook his head abruptly, driving the terrifying scene of the iron artillery explosion out of his mind, and then said sternly: "With such power, what army cannot be defeated? Can this battle still be fought? We must not let those iron artillery continue to throw! Everyone Follow me! We have to destroy that convoy! The sooner the better!"
This group of cavalry was already running extremely fast. Following the shouts of Monk Wanyan Chen, everyone hit the horses repeatedly, driving the horses violently. The entire team seemed to have lost a huge arrow, and it shot down the long road. Qi shot over fiercely.
In front of Ding Haijun's horizontal formation, at the moment when Old Monk Fan died, the gap that had been highlighted by the Jin army's sacrifice of life was closed.
The soldier holding the spear used both hands to lift the old monk Fan, who was missing his calf, on the tip of the spear. Because of the excessive force, his two eyes suddenly bulged, which was very shocking: "I have bulging eyes, but also There were monkeys and pheasants, and a thousand households of the Jin Army were killed!"
Dozens of people in the queues on the left and right cheered in unison. The lieutenant leading the troops shouted the order at the right time, and dozens of people took a step forward.
With just one step, everyone immediately faced off against the Jin Army soldiers who had arrived from behind, but this step simultaneously moved the battle lines on the left and right wings. In the blink of an eye, the entire horizontal formation was like gray waves that suddenly roared and became fierce. There were many. The Jin army on the opposite side did not look like a wave, but rather like a small boat floating on the tide of the sea, which could be capsized at any time.
Guo Ning, who was riding behind the formation, saw all this happening.
He suddenly asked: "Who is that lieutenant?"
Xin Cong immediately rushed out to investigate, and came back after a while to report: "He is a subordinate of General Liu Ran, named Zhang Pingliang. The three who just shouted to kill the enemy are also veterans of Zhang Pingliang's subordinates."
Guo Ning nodded and said to his left and right: "Liu Ran is a veteran on the battlefield and has many useful talents around him. This Zhang Pingliang is very good at leading a team to fight. You see, they just killed a thousand households, which greatly reduced the enemy's morale. Frustrated, our team just moved forward to suppress it. But if it moved too far forward, it would be easily surrounded by subsequent enemy forces on three sides, and it would also be unfavorable to the cooperation of friendly forces on both sides. So he just gave the order and took one step."
The attendant on the side suddenly realized: "One step is enough. With this step, he can take the entire horizontal formation one step forward. The formation will not be loose, and the pressure on the enemy will be greater."
Another attendant nodded: "It's amazing that you can still be so calm when we and the enemy are at hand-to-hand combat."
Naturally, Guo Ning and his attendants did not know that the reason why Zhang Pingliang was able to remain calm was actually because his wife, Li Shi, repeatedly warned him before the expedition that he should not rush into things with passion and think more about everything.
After all, Zhang Pingliang is now an officer, has an exceptionally beautiful wife, has a yard with two doors, hundreds of acres of farmland, and two new shady houses.
Life is getting better, but after all, I am no longer as enthusiastic as I was when I was barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes. Including him, many grassroots soldiers began to figure out how to get the greatest victory at the smallest cost on the battlefield.
Guo Ning also had a vague feeling about this, but he didn't tell his attendants.
The combat effectiveness of an army comes from two aspects.
On the one hand, the warriors themselves are fierce and dare to die, but their strength in this aspect is actually something that is hard to come by.
For example, in the early days of the Jin Dynasty, they relied on a group of savages who were said to be "invincible" among the white mountains and black waters. This group of people conquered the east and west, and in less than 20 years, they destroyed the Liao Dynasty, defeated the Song Dynasty, and established a great country.
When they died of old age or were satisfied with their wealth, the combat effectiveness of the Jin Kingdom's army seemed to return to the human world from mythology.
The situation of Ding Hainan is similar but also different.
When Guo Ning started his career, he relied on the most fierce and brave group among the defeated troops in the northern frontier of the Kingdom of Jin. It has only been four years since his rise, and most of his companions are still young and high-spirited.
But in these four years, Guo Ning gave the soldiers very good treatment, making most of the soldiers who originally had nothing become small landowners with permanent property, and could even look forward to a better life.
Under such circumstances, the soldiers are no longer desperate beasts, and once the beasts become humans, they lose their original ferocity. This is a fact and there is no need to criticize them harshly.
These days are not like the future generations in Guo Ning's dream. People's hearts and ideas are not united to that extent. Using the slogans of the country and the nation to inspire the soldiers cannot produce much energy.
If three years ago, we had used a horizontal formation to face the desperate charging Jurchens, and Guo Ning was not allowed to retreat, the formation would never retreat at all. Even if a hundred people died here, there would not be a half-hole in the formation.
It can be seen that the motivation to dare to die in the army is indeed fading. Guo Ning must use other things to fill it to maintain or even continue to improve the combat effectiveness of the army.
That is the military's training level, tactical literacy, logistical support, ordnance and equipment and even military discipline, severe punishment and generous rewards, etc.
Now it seems that people's energy has faded a little, but the combat effectiveness of the army has not declined, the capabilities of grassroots officers have been significantly improved, and the combat methods are very flexible, which is good.
Thinking of this, Guo Ning moved his horse forward, raised his head and asked: "How is the effect?"
What Guo Ning asked about was naturally the effect of the iron artillery thrown. The battlefield where the two sides were fighting was blocked by smoke and dust. He was riding on a horse and could not see clearly.
Zhang Lin took three steps and then two steps, and got down from the carriage.
"Lord, six iron artillery pieces did not explode, and seven others were thrown into the air. The forty-seven iron artillery pieces that bombarded the enemy's position killed about 500 people of the Jin army. The enemy army has already declined, and ours
The 3,000 men and horses in the front line's horizontal formation are enough to push them back."
This kind of gunpowder weapon has been transported thousands of miles, and it is inevitable that some of it will fail. Just like when a counterweighted stone machine is assembled on the battlefield, it is inevitable that some of them will have malfunctions of one kind or another, and become a piece of wooden furniture that scares people. A single bombardment will make it possible.
It can determine the outcome of a fight involving nearly ten thousand people, and the effect is already too good.
Guo Ning nodded: "It's a pity that the battlefield is too open. If the enemy's troops are not concentrated, the damage caused by gunpowder will be limited. And if the enemy's troops are concentrated, they will definitely be fighting hand-to-hand with our army. If an iron artillery gun goes down, If you kill a hundred enemies, you will be afraid of losing fifty or sixty."
"Exactly. And there's one more thing."
"Speaking."
"That day, when we fired iron artillery at the Mongols near the Triangle Lake, the key was not to kill, but to intimidate. The Mongols were barbaric and ignorant, and had always believed in the gods, so they regarded the power of the iron artillery as divine punishment such as thunder and lightning. , but my officers and soldiers in Dajin have had a lot of dealings with the Southern Dynasties. Even if they have never seen iron artillery with their own eyes, they have heard that the Song Dynasty people are good at using firearms to defend the city... They are not as frightened as the Mongols."
"So, we mainly have to rely on the power of the iron artillery itself."
"yes."
"Then do you estimate that with a few more rounds, we can achieve the effect of directly destroying the enemy's army without the soldiers fighting?"
"In my opinion, it takes three or four rounds, throws two hundred iron artillery pieces out, kills and injures more than a thousand people, that's almost enough."
"We need two hundred for this one!" Guo Ning was stunned at first, and sighed: "We have too many places to spend money. Iron artillery is very expensive! The Ordnance Department has been asking for money in the past two years. It’s as if you don’t want your life!”
"Ahem, lord..."
Zhang Lin bowed down: "Although our stone-throwing machine can reach far, we have to turn the capstan again and pull up the counterweight before each launch. In a short period of time, we can't throw three or four rounds. In addition, we brought The number of iron artillery pieces is limited, and we still have Kaifeng City to attack later."
Guo Ning nodded.
"Then let the soldiers pack it up as soon as possible. The power of this round of throwing is enough for the front army to defeat the enemy, and it will definitely attract the attention of the Jin army generals. They will soon mobilize their fine cavalry between the central army and the two wings. Charge over and we can gather together to annihilate them."
He patted Zhang Lin's arm: "This one of yours is of great use. For now, just hold on to the car formation..."
Having said this, Guo Ning suddenly turned sideways on his horse.
On the gravel-covered plain, the hot wind kept blowing, making a rustling sound. This sound seemed to be mixed with other sounds, like the sound of rapids rushing under the dike, gradually coming from behind a long moraine in the southeast .
Guo Ning turned around again, held his saddle and looked up high.
In the direction of the Chinese Army, a hot air balloon was slowly floating at a height of about ten feet. On the balloon, a figure was waving two flags fiercely in a special sequence.
"Already here? So soon?"
Guo Ning thought for a while and laughed dumbly: "I'm afraid, someone was thinking about cutting off the connections between our departments from the beginning! How brave!"