However, after two rounds of attempts, in the afternoon, when the sun was setting slightly, the Song army could see with the naked eye that countless Western Xia cavalry and infantry began to swarm in and appear in the fields within their field of vision.
Many of the cavalrymen were obviously wearing ill-fitting leather armor, and there were even some cavalrymen in dazzling armor moving back and forth in the formation. The so-called infantry were still armed with a single bow and a spear, no different from ordinary civilians. This was a typical attire of the Xixia Zhuanglinglang (non-Dangxiang cannon fodder troops, mostly Han people, but military merits were allowed to be counted), but it was obvious that most of them were Dangxiang people... and the number of the three together was a bit too much, and they almost instantly trampled the green crops in the field flat.
Relatively speaking, the Song army's formation was obviously slightly deformed by the pressure from a distance, forcing the marching commanders of each unit to give orders to readjust.
"Jiedu..." Hu Hongxiu was a little panicked. "Should we let the whole army put on armor first?"
"No hurry." Yue Fei took a glance and gave a solemn order. "Wait for them to come first... The key is not to stop... Once the army stops, they will succeed."
Of course, all the generals knew this truth, but few of them responded, and the tension was already very obvious.
At the same time, under the white bull banner, the Liang Wang Weiming Anhui, who was wearing a golden crown, also turned his head to look at the king who was wearing a slightly taller golden crown beside him: "More than 40 clan accounts, about 20,000 light cavalry, 20000 to 3000 Xingqing armored cavalry, more than 1,000 infantry, 40,000 to 50,000... 40,000 to 50,000 to attack your son... Does the king have any other instructions?"
"Yes." Li Ganshun responded in a low voice. "Most of these armored cavalry are private soldiers of the nobles in Xingqing Prefecture, so they have the money to buy good horses. Their family mansions are in Xingqing Prefecture. Even if they dismount to defend the city, they will definitely work hard. And even if they are defeated, they will go to Xingqing Prefecture. But the more than 1,000 infantrymen are mostly armored warriors from the tribes under the Helan Mountains... Once they fail, they will definitely scatter."
"I understand!" Weiming Anhui did not hide his true intention. "Of course, everyone will fight hard in this battle, but we also need to sort out the priorities. If Zhuang Linglang can get a little success, we can let Bu Bazi follow Zhuang Linglang and join the battle first!"
Li Ganshun nodded slightly, and the next moment, as Weiming An Hui jumped out on his horse and waved his hands heavily, flags everywhere fluttered and drums rumbled, it was the armored cavalry that came out first to supervise the battle, and then, unlike the previous two days, this time, an astonishing number of Zhuang Linglang came out first!
These young men shouted and screamed, some were bareheaded, some barely wore a tattered felt hat, and most only had an inappropriate tattered jacket, but they rushed forward with bows and launched a tidal attack on the Song army. Often after shooting, they would turn to spears and charge into hand-to-hand combat.
Correspondingly, as early as when the soldiers were shooting arrows, the Song army had already been hit by crossbow arrows, causing countless casualties. However, with the blessing of numbers, these unarmored single-soldier Dangxiang people still rushed forward and swarmed to the front of the Song army, engaging with the Song army infantry formation... It must be admitted that this was the first time that the Song army infantry had engaged in large-scale close combat with the enemy since entering the hinterland of Xingling.
"Armor all the troops!"
Looking at the dense crowds of people, Yue Fei, who was still marching under the banner, finally gave an order, but at the same time he did not forget to continue to emphasize. "The civilians should slow down, the armored cavalry should slow down, and the whole army should keep moving forward no matter how slow it is!"
On one side, Qu Duan and Hu Hongxiu were both silent. Even though the entire army was frightened by the momentum of the Dangxiang gangs, no senior officer raised any objection.
This is because anyone with some military experience, especially those who have served in the Western Army, understands that the so-called Zhuang Linglang army, whether it is the Han or the Dangxiang people, is essentially cannon fodder, that is, consumables. Generally speaking, they have only three roles. One is to gamble that this wave of charge can shake the formation, forcing the other side to mobilize and form a flaw; the other is to actively find the flaws in the opponent's army formation through such large-scale contact; and the last one needs no explanation, everyone knows that it is to consume arrows and blunt swords.
No matter how sharp a knife is, it can only cut a few times against human bones. Once an arrow has penetrated the flesh, there is no need to think about using it again.
When facing this kind of offensive from an army like this, the first thing to do is to stabilize the formation, rather than being dispatched by them. Once you stabilize and hold on, these people will suddenly collapse on their own due to casualties.
However, I don't know if it's because the King of Western Xia is behind him, or if there are too many of them, but this wave of attacks seems to be particularly durable.
Although the well-organized array of the Song army formed concave formations in various places and relied on military discipline, armor, equipment, and formations to cause heavy casualties, it still allowed the Dangxiang people to further crash into the crossbow formation.
Fortunately, even the outer crossbowmen were wearing armor, which meant that there were not too many casualties in the crossbow formation. But there is no doubt that this greatly reduced the killing efficiency of the Song army, and seriously hindered the speed at which the Song army troops in the rear could put on armor, which directly affected the advance of the army.
At this moment, I don't know if I feel like I have glimpsed a glimpse of possibility. Within my field of vision, there are already a small number of Xixia infantry soldiers, the so-called Bubazi, who are ready to break into the army formation under the cover of these young men.
"Let the sword and shield soldiers put on armor and leave the spear formation to attack." Yue Fei looked at the dense Tangut cannon fodder soldiers and finally frowned. "But they are not allowed to go out to pursue! They are only allowed to help the archers to clear the surrounding bumps and prevent the Xixia people from entering the battle! The big flag follows me, no matter how slow it is, we must move forward step by step."
When the military order was passed down, some of the sword and shield soldiers who were originally prepared for the current situation immediately attacked... These soldiers with armor and sharp blades faced the unarmored but chaotic Xixia infantrymen in a dense formation, which was simply a massacre.
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