Chapter 376 Like Thunder and Lightning

In the morning, when Han Shizhong started to prepare his second bowl of mutton soup with pancakes, some Jurchen knights had already put on their armor and the battle officially broke out.

As soon as the battle started, the Song army guarding the main camp was caught in a tough battle.

This is of course true. In this era characterized by heavy iron lamellar armor, almost all tactics revolved around heavy armor and armor-piercing...and the part of the Song army on the front line only had leather armor, and were fundamentally unable to compete with the Jurchen warriors who hurriedly put on armor and went into battle.

Faced with the close-range heavy arrows of the Jurchen cavalry and close combat assaults, except for the camp which was their biggest reliance, these Song troops could basically only rely on wooden shields for defense and spears to hinder the attack.

But it was unable to cause any effective damage to the Jin army.

On the contrary, if we are not careful, we will be killed by a single arrow from the Jurchen knights or dismounted knights who will get close to us and shoot heavy arrows.

There was no way around it. Once hit by the Jurchens' heavy arrows, even if you didn't die, you would at least lose your combat effectiveness.

It's just a waste of time and energy.

But at this time, the elite soldiers of Han Shizhong's army, who were hiding behind stone ramparts, trenches, fences, water vapor, and these leather-armored rebels, were just eating and sitting around. They even kept quiet and chewed slowly at the request of their officers... Only a small number of obviously young faces would raise their heads and look towards the east, which was the battle area.

This is certainly not indifference, nor is it just a matter of Han Shizhong's extremely strict military discipline. It is more because the Beiwei Army and the Cuipian Army are truly extraordinary. Not only do they enjoy the best treatment of the Left Army of the Imperial Camp and use the best equipment, but they also have the most rigorous training and the strictest discipline.

At the same time, as the two troops formed immediately after Han Shizhong escaped from Hebei that day, these two troops have experienced almost all the major and minor battles since Jianyan, and have suffered both defeats and victories. Even though the soldiers in them are constantly being replaced, they can be said to have excellent combat traditions.

However, it is worth mentioning that the Beiwei Army has never specifically referred to the Guards Cavalry, and the Cuipian Army has never specifically referred to any crossbow unit... In a sense, these two military names are both very common.

The name of the Beiwei Army came from Western Xia. It doesn't matter whether Beiwei refers to tall stature or carrying a wine bottle or a shield. Anyway, it has become a common title in the hundreds of years of entanglement between the Western Army and Western Xia. Generally speaking, it refers to the general's guards. It's just that Han Shizhong has always been good at using cavalry, so after he became rich, he chose to set his Beiwei Army as cavalry.

In sharp contrast to this is Zhang Jun, who also formed a Beiwei Army after Han Shizhong. It had been led by Tian Shizhong before. Later, after Tian Shizhong actually took control of many of the daily operations of the Right Army of the Imperial Camp, it was only in recent years that it gradually came under the control of Zhang Zigai... and this Beiwei Army was a typical heavy armor and long axe army.

In addition, similar small-scale elite troops are generally selectively set up under the commanding officers and the leading officers. Although they are not called the Beiwei Army, they are actually the Beiwei Army.

However, later on, Yue Fei rose to power and became the commander-in-chief of an army. The Beiwei Army he reorganized was also a cavalry. This led to the fact that no matter in another historical time or in the current imperial army, the two most famous and largest Beiwei armies were cavalry. This gave people the illusion that the Beiwei Army was equal to the Royal Guards Cavalry.

Moreover, even at the level of a general, not everyone would set up a large personal guard. Wu Jie did not have this problem, but he would habitually concentrate the powerful crossbows and cavalry scattered among the various units every time he went to war...'Stationary Arrows' specifically refers to this tactic of concentrating the use of powerful crossbows and then rotating them for continuous shooting.

On that day at Qiaoshan in Fangzhou, Wu Jie used this tactic to shoot through Tuhesu's foot and made Salihe, who was showing off his power on the opposite side, cry. Then, the reputation of the Crying Young Master spread throughout the world with the spread of court reports. Even the people of Dali knew that there was a Crying Young Master in the Kingdom of Jin.

As for the Cui Pian Army, it is actually a unit within the Left Army of the Imperial Camp that concentrates on using powerful crossbows, and like the Beiwei Army, it is not a specific unit, as Cui Pian is also a common military title. It's just that the leader of the Left Army of the Imperial Camp, Jie Yuan and Jie Shanliang, is an old brother of Han Shizhong who he recognized for decades when he was in the Bao'an Army. He is also the deputy governor-general. He has good treatment and training, and he never misses a battle, so he has always been particularly well-known.

Heavy cavalry, heavy infantry with axemen, heavy armor and powerful crossbowmen... these elite troops in the Song army did not appear out of thin air. They were elite troops set up to target the Jurchen heavy cavalry, and they were learned at the cost of the lives of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Song soldiers.

It really doesn't matter what name you use.

"Shanliang, I remember your home is nearby?" Han Shizhong held the bowl, slowly swallowed a mouthful of steamed bun, took a sip of mutton soup, and looked at Li Yuan as if to make conversation.

"Sixty miles." Jie Yuan held the bowl and pointed his mouth towards the battle line to the east. "Following the Fen River, it is north of Luotuo Ridge and south of the Fen River. I remember it still belongs to Ji County."

"So close?" Han Shizhong was surprised for a moment.

"It's not close." Jie Yuan flipped the steamed bun with chopsticks... He put too much steamed bun in it... He replied helplessly. "I left home when I was a teenager and joined the Shaanxi Baoan Army. When I was 26, I became a deputy captain and took my family with me... Maybe there are still childhood friends, relatives, and old acquaintances, but if I hadn't come to the roots, I might not even remember that this is the place."

Han Shizhong was silent for a moment.

Jie Yuan ate two more bites, and seeing Han Shizhong's expression, he turned around and frowned, "Fifth brother, what's wrong with you today? Could it be that you can't stand the sight of blood after just a few years of rest? Listen to me, what can we do now? We didn't bring double sets of armor... Even if we did, it would be too late, and they wouldn't be used to it..."

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