In this situation, once they become tired and are not careful, they will be killed by the Jin army as they are the primary targets.
This is also the fundamental reason why the first to climb the enemy lines and the first to break into the enemy lines have been respected in the army since ancient times - the courage of being the first to climb the enemy lines is indeed heroic, but behind it is a huge and bloody risk of death.
In doubt, Zhao Jiu could only turn to Liu Yan who was standing beside him and ask: "Pingfu, can Li Yanxian gather some archers to suppress the enemy across the river and create a safe zone?"
The latter hesitated for a moment, but still shook his head: "Let the emperor know that the rain is getting heavier, and the biggest impact of rain on bows and crossbows is that the bowstrings become damp and soft. Once the bowstrings become soft, the range will be greatly reduced. If we shoot across the river like this, the crossbows will be exposed. I'm afraid that after only three arrows, they will get wet. Not only will it not be enough to cover our troops, but it will also be easy to cause accidental injuries due to the shortened range and loss of accuracy."
"Why not send some elite troops to support from Shiqiao?" Chief Scholar Fan Zongyin suddenly interrupted.
"If there are too few, it will not be enough to suppress the Jin army, and it will not be of much significance; if there are too many, it will probably attract the main force of the Jin army on the high ground in front, and backfire." Liu Yan responded calmly.
Zhao Jiu finally fell silent, and Lu Yihao also said nothing.
"Your Majesty..." At this moment, Mei Li, who was standing by, suddenly spoke up. "Can we try using the Poxi Army? The small crossbows used by the Poxi Army can be operated under a tarpaulin and wooden frame, and the range is a little longer than that of a crossbow. Moreover, the fist-sized stones are enough to kill heavy armor and suppress the Jin army."
Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment and looked at Liu Yan again.
Liu Yan thought for a moment and nodded immediately: "We can give it a try. Besides, the camels of the Poxi Army are high, so we don't need to suppress them across the river. We can cross the river from the stone bridge to provide support to the army on the other side!"
Zhao Jiu nodded without hesitation: "Let Brother Wei Mingyun fight!"
It is said that Weiming Yunge had been following the emperor since the beginning of the Northern Expedition and had made some contributions in the attack on Queshu Valley. However, the special organization of his troops, that is, the design of camels and small torque crossbows, made it difficult to replenish quickly through rest and recuperation. Therefore, although the troops did not suffer a defeat, they were reduced from 500 horses per person at the start to less than 300 horses per person. When they were ordered to cross the river to fight, they were also surprised and confused.
But once the order was given, there was no time for hesitation. He immediately led his 200-odd camels with torsion crossbows to the stone bridge. At the same time, more than 100 mules and horses, driven by the Tangut auxiliary soldiers, followed, carrying the polished fist-sized stones that served as ammunition.
About quarter of an hour later, the Poxi Army, which had invented a weapon specifically to deal with the heavily armored infantry of the Song Army, crossed the river and took position relying on the powerful mobility of camels, and immediately produced miraculous results.
Fists and stones rained down like rain, and the densely-packed Jin army soldiers, both infantry and cavalry, were beaten so hard that they could not even raise their heads.
The pressure on Wang De's troops was greatly reduced in an instant, and Wang De and his son at the front seemed to be able to take a break.
Even Brother Wei Mingyun did not expect such a miraculous effect. You know, his unconventional and difficult-to-replenish military force had long been rejected. If he had not written a letter last year saying that the Poxi Army could fire gunpowder bags, it would have been disbanded long ago.
Wang De was able to catch his breath for a while. The Ali tribe suffered a temporary setback and there was a temporary reversal trend on the small slope battlefield in front of the stone bridge.
But on the high ground, Wanyan Bendu, who commanded four thousand households, said nothing and did not even look at the battlefield in front of the high ground. At the same time, in the camp behind the high ground, Balisu, whose whole body was wet, just stared at the five-colored sun flag above his head. Of course, he did not react at all.
Beside Balisu, there was a wooden observation tower. Regardless of his status, King Wushu of Wei was climbing up the observation tower to look at the situation. However, he was not looking at the front of the high ground, but was looking towards the west of the high ground, the so-called upper reaches of the Taiping River... He did not care that he could not see anything clearly in the rain.
The reason for this is very simple. The scouts in the front reported one after another that first, Han Shizhong's Beiwei Army broke through the corner of Linhe Guaizi Ma and officially engaged in battle with Pushan Beilu's Wanhu. Then, an astonishing number of light cavalry crossed the river and rushed up.
At this time, the upper reaches of the Taiping River on the west side of the high ground was the real battlefield. The number of troops fighting between the two sides there might have reached seven or eight thousand, and the scale of the battle was approaching one hundred thousand without limit... In this case, who would care about the Xiaopo battlefield in front, especially at this time, it seemed that Wang De's surprise attack was more like a cover for Han Shizhong.
Turning upstream, on the battlefield where fighting had already begun on all fronts, Hurzakhus Khan, wearing a golden crown, led some of the Western Mongolian tribesmen to cross the river first. They originally wanted to march directly along the river and follow Han Shizhong's troops, but they received an order from the King of Qin that was passed down from the Yuan Dynasty, requiring them to bypass the Song army and prepare to attack the flank and rear of the highlands, try to insert themselves into the gap between the southernmost end of the Jin army's front line and the camp, and then complete the encirclement of the highlands from the depression behind the highlands.
Of course, to say that they were surrounded was to overestimate these more than 10,000 Mongolian light cavalry. In essence, they were still intended to play a role of containment and harassment.
In fact, after bypassing the Song army, Huer Zhahusi was shocked to find that the Jin army's cavalry and infantry had already been deployed in front of him. They still used the typical "crooked horse" tactics with infantry in the middle and cavalry and infantry on both wings. They had also successfully connected to the trench outside the southern camp, blocking the road.
Seeing this, Huerzahusi, who had known the power for a long time, took a deep breath, but thinking of the spoils promised by the Zhao Song officials this morning, he still gritted his teeth, turned around and shouted in the grassland language to encourage:
"My brothers and sisters! My brave hawks and dogs! The promise of the Chinese emperor has been made very clear! This is a fair reward! Now it is time for us to exchange our courage for the promise!"
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