When it was almost noon on August 18 in the first year of the Great Song Dynasty, the autumn wind began to howl, and the temperature on the front line in eastern Liaodong plummeted again. The last ray of warmth between heaven and earth went away with the wind in an instant.

The vast land was suddenly slaughtered. The unnamed villages on the west bank of Zhuangshui are now also shrouded in an aura of slaughter. The village looks different from yesterday afternoon. The entrance to the fence has been sealed with masonry and timber. About 150 officers and men of the Eight Banners, with the Yellow Flag and the Red Flag, sat on the ground leaning against the wall to rest and eat the dry food they carried with them. A handful of others were leaning on the wall, staring at the Mongols outside the village.

The large mansion in the center of the village was also put in order. A two-story brick house was reinforced to become the last stronghold of the two Eight Banners, and two three-bow bed crossbows were moved to the flat roof of the house—the highest point in the village—and bunkers were hastily constructed. The courtyard of the mansion was crowded with horses, and all the houses were cleared, and they were filled with soldiers of the Eight Banners sleeping with their heads covered.

The Eight Banners of these two teams have been fighting for many days in a row, and their bodies are very depleted, and Rao is a warrior who hunts fierce beasts since he was a child, and he is also a little unbearable. So Yang Axi and Jin Amin arranged for them to take turns sleeping. It was Yang Jin and the others, and they also squinted for a while.

Let nearly 2,000 Mongolian cavalry besiege and still be able to sleep, I have to say that the nerves of these wild Tartars are coarse.

The sound of rumbling hooves woke Yang Axi from his dream, and he slept on the roof of the two-story building, wrapped in a leather robe, and shrunk in the corner to avoid the wind. When he woke up, he stood up and looked around. I saw a group of about 500 Mongolian cavalry outside the village running rapidly, passing through the "muzzle" of a bed crossbow. Go straight to Zhuangshui.

"Reinforcements! It's our reinforcements that have arrived! Yang Axi was overjoyed. With 300 men, he held on to a small village, surrounded by 2,000 Mongols outside. It's not an easy job.

"Brother Jin, our reinforcements are here!" Yang Axi ran downstairs quickly. Downstairs, the headquarters of the merger of the two Eight Banners Zuo Team.

Of course, there was no furniture inside, and Kim Amin sat cross-legged on the ground, spreading out a sheepskin in front of him, on which the village and the surrounding terrain were drawn with charcoal. When Jin Amin heard Yang Axi's shout, he replied without raising his head: "It's been an hour...... But it's not a big team, maybe it's the vanguard. It is estimated that it is either the Eight Banners or the iron cavalry of the Han people. But there is no use. They can't cross the Zhuangshui. ”

On the east bank of Zhuangshui, Wang Lufei and his chief of staff and commander of the First Cavalry Brigade, Zhang Kai, were calmly standing on a high slope, surrounded by the heavy armored cavalry of the cavalry division and the eight banners of the two auxiliary teams. All the cavalry dismounted. He also sat cross-legged himself, apparently resting.

In the mountains and forests on the west bank of Zhuangshui, there are faint Mongolian soldiers, all armed with bows and arrows, closely guarding two shallows that can wade across the river.

The artillery company assigned to the cavalry division had not yet arrived, and was being escorted by the Eight Banners of the Auxiliary Brigade, on the way to the arrival.

A staff officer of a cavalry division walked quickly, came to Zhang Kai's side, and said in a low voice: "A group of 500 Mongolian cavalry has appeared on the other side of the shallow beach, and it is confronting our people. In addition, according to the report of an eight-flag and yellow-flaged team that arrived early. On the opposite side of the road there was a village surrounded by the Mongols, and there might be one or two Eight Banners in it. The Mongols, numbering less than 2,000 people, were probably their vanguard. ”

Zhang Kai nodded and asked, "Where is the main force of Mongolia?" ”

"There is no information on this, and the yellow flag team has already scattered the sentry cavalry fifty miles. It is estimated that the main force of the Mongols will arrive at least a day and night later. Other than that. After our signal was issued, several Eight Banners teams had already arrived. ”

As the staff officer spoke, another muffled sound was heard in the air. A rocket shot with a horned bow exploded, sparks flew out. It's dazzling. Zhang Kai turned his head to look north, and in the distance, he could already see a brigade of white-clothed cavalry moving south along the east bank of the Zhuang River. This should be a white flag or a white flag team.

Zhang Kai breathed a sigh of relief and said to Wang Lufei: "Master General, the artillery will definitely arrive tomorrow morning, and then we will launch an attack." ”

Wang Lufei stared at the 500 Mongolian cavalry on the other side of the shallow water beach and said eagerly: "It's time for our ironclad cavalry to show their skills...... But don't wait until tomorrow, you can do it tonight!

……

"Jurchen dogs, they should all be killed!" Prince Hotu muttered.

In the wilderness west of the nameless village, a small Mongol camp has been entrenched. There were no trenches and fences, but they were made into a circle of Guleyyan with the carts carried by the army. Inside the circle is a resting place for people and horses.

Huo Tu stood on top of a big cart with a calm face, his eyes staring at the little fire in the distance, it was another Eight Banners! These wild Jurchen cavalry that were gathered and equipped by Chen Dexing were really annoying. It's not okay to fight openly, but the guerrilla attack is first-class, and it's a little stronger than the Mongol cavalry! Especially the mountains and forests in the eastern part of Liaodong are their nests at all, and they can swim around with their eyes closed!

Chen Dexing also equipped these Jurchen dogs with the Heavenly Thunder Arrow, and whenever they had the opportunity, they would approach the Mongol camp and release the Heavenly Thunder Arrow, although there was no accuracy at night, but the effect of the disturbance was not bad at all. This night, it is estimated that there are no Mongols here in Liaodong who can sleep peacefully.

"Prince, it's not too early, you better hurry up and rest." The battle-hardened old Brother Tiemu didn't know when he arrived at Prince Huotu's side. The hundred-man team led by this old hundred-man family was beaten by the Eight Banners during the day, and more than 60 people were killed and wounded, but his old man was unharmed.

"How can you sleep?" Huo Tu shook his head, "How is the situation on the other side of Zhuangshui?" How many enemy troops are coming? ”

"There were more than 1,000 ironclad cavalry when the last horse was returned, and the costume was very similar to our cowardice, all of them were fish scale armor, cast iron helmets, and spears, one person and two horses. This should be Chen Dexing's Han cavalry. They were accompanied by hundreds of Jurchen cavalry, and there may be more Jurchen cavalry arriving one after another. There are too many of these raw Jurchen cavalry......"

"It's just hateful and can't be killed!"

"It's going to kill them all! There are no less than 150,000 warriors of the four major Urus in our host, what else can we not kill? When Genghis Khan ruled the steppe, we Mongolians had only 95 thousand households, and 100,000 troops might not be able to get it. ”

"Yes!" Huo Tu nodded heavily and jumped out of the cart, "Old Brother Temu, you should go and rest for a while." After daybreak, if my father Khan's army had not arrived, they would have attacked first. ”

Before Huo Tu's words fell, a roar was heard in the direction of Zhuangshui in the distance, and a flash of fire rose from the west side of the shallow water beach. Huo Tu frowned and said, "It's the Heavenly Thunder Arrow!" They're going to grab the shallow waters! ”

"Not really...... Their infantry has not yet arrived, but they are just cavalry, and if they want to fight the shallow waters, they will have to wait for the infantry, right? ”

Huo Tu snorted coldly: "Isn't the cavalry an infantry when they get off their horses?" A man who can wear cowardly Xue iron armor must be a warrior and cannot be taken lightly. Brother Temu, take your hundred-man team and go to the shallow water with me! ”

……

"The first, second, and third companies of the cavalry, the whole team fought on foot, with spears."

"The 1st Cavalry Artillery Company is ready to maneuver, and the 2nd Cavalry Artillery Company continues to bombard the other side of the shoal."

"The white flag is in the team, the white flag is in front of the team, and the blue flag is in the back, dismount and shoot, and bring the bow and arrow cluster!"

Zhang Kai, chief of staff of the cavalry division of the Northern Expeditionary Army, had already ordered three cavalry companies and three Eight Banners at this time. Prepare to attack the Mongols on the other side of the shoal!

The cavalry division has a small establishment, no battalion-level structure, and there are two brigades under the division headquarters, each brigade has seven cavalry companies, one cavalry artillery company (equipped with three-bow bed crossbows and heavenly thunder arrows), and the division headquarters also directly administers a guard company (also heavy armored cavalry). The division consisted of only 15 cavalry companies and 2 cavalry artillery companies. Moreover, the strength of the cavalry company is also less than that of the infantry company, generally only more than ninety people.

As for the establishment of the Eight Banners, it is currently the three levels of the Flag Team, Team A, and Auxiliary Team. Among them, the flag team level is still fictitious, and the flag owner, metropolitan commander, and deputy metropolitan commander have not been appointed. At the first level of the first team, there is only one team A for each flag, and the co-leaders and staff leaders have been appointed, but they do not hold real power. It was just to arrange for Chen Dexing's birth Jurchen clan leader to be idle.

And the real power is sixty-four teams, each team has 150 bannermen and vests, all of them are warriors from various departments in Liaodong, Tartar nobles, but they have not yet worshiped the grange and serfs.

By the way, there was a serf rank in the feudal system established by Chen Dexing! However, the source of serfs cannot be first-class men. It can only be the conquered tribes! And the way to get serfs is at present only military merit - military merit can be obtained status (title), official position, land, serfdom and reward.

The A team and the auxiliary team of the Eight Banners have military merit accounts, and after the war, they will judge the merits by the first rank, the captured and completed tasks, and then reward and distribute the spoils. This set of systems to break the pattern of inherent interests of the tribes and establish a fair distribution of spoils of war was actually a compulsory course before the rise of barbarian regimes such as the Jurchens, Mongols, and later the Manchus!

In fact, many of the world's other empires that rose to prominence in the Middle Ages adopted this system of "serfdom and estates to support the military aristocracy." For example, the Sipahi cavalry of the Ottoman Empire, the feudal knights of Europe.

Of course, no system will always maintain upward vitality. But there is no doubt that this kind of "serfdom (pastoral slavery) and real estate to support the military aristocracy" was quite strong at the beginning of its rise!

Combined with sophisticated equipment, harsh training, and various brainwashing, you can create a strong army that can sweep away a single opponent!

Today's Northern Expeditionary Army and the Eight Banners are such strong soldiers! (To be continued......)