Chapter 135 Night Battle of Cavalry

Of course, when the West City was attacked, the Liao army on the other three sides would not turn a blind eye. Almost at the same time as the explosion sounded in the West City, Yelv Juncai in the South City suddenly woke up.
南城夜袭，不过是铺垫，虽然说南城看似损失惨重，连粮草都被烧了，但实际上耶律俊才心里一点都不慌，之前宋军的夜袭，实际上造成的人员损失不过五六百号人。
At most, the supplies were burned because the Liao troops did not react in time. Across from them, the Song commander was a renowned figure in the Liao court—a leading general among the new generation of the Song. His meticulous planning over a long period, combined with the help of grenades, resulted in this achievement, which is not too surprising.
实际上南城的粮草，不过是南城五日之需，辽军粮草根本不愁，背靠着幽州这个军事重镇，除了东城大本营囤积了可以供给七万辽军半个月粮草之外，每隔十天，幽州那边就会送来新的补给。
The Liao army is not like the Song army, lacking in war horses, they can only hide in the city and fight a defensive battle. The northern and southern parts of the desert are now officially under the control of the Liao country. Although there are rebellions among some tribes, most of the tribes are still under the jurisdiction of the Liao country on paper. The annual tribute of war horses, plus the war horses raised by the Khitan tribes themselves, already exceeds the total number of horses in all the armies of the Great Song.
There are so many warhorses, let alone the sluggish horses pulling the carts. Yuzhou is not too far from Zhuozhou, and the Song army dare not penetrate this area to harass. To put it in an ugly way, it is better to worry about the wild beasts on the road than fear that the Song will send people to rob food and grass.
In fact, the biggest loss for Nancheng was the fire set by the army of the Great Song Dynasty, which burned down almost half of the camp. Yelu Juncai had prepared to kill the soldiers who attacked at night from the Great Song Dynasty, so he left the reinforcements in the west. Firstly, they could help put out the fire and even repair the camp, secondly, they could guard against the possibility of another sneak attack from the Song army.
但他高估了自己的族兄耶律良才，在明知道宋军今夜袭营的情况下，还一点防备也没有，导致整个西城大营剩下的步卒和小半骑兵的覆灭。
However, even if Yelv Liangcai was cautious and careful, the West City camp would still meet its demise tonight. The reinforcements sent by Sheng Changhuai tonight are not just limited to a hundred guerrilla cannons.
Just as Gu Tingye stormed into the enemy camp, the shelling stopped and Li Kui led his infantry to surround the retreating troops of the Liao Dynasty. At the same time, from behind the West City stronghold, 5,000 musketeers charged into the enemy camp from another direction, each carrying at least four or five grenades in their hands.
However, the stupidity of Yelu Liangcai didn't help at all. At least when the musketeers blasted open the back door of the Xicheng Dazhai, they just stared in dumbfounded amazement as the soldiers from Zhuozhou slaughtered the Liao army like pigs and sheep. The Liao army disintegrated and there were the shadows of the Song army everywhere. In order to avoid friendly fire, hand grenades lost their effectiveness.
However, the musketeers could only pick up some leftovers and aim at individual fleeing soldiers to shoot. It was precisely because they blocked the retreat of Liao soldiers that almost all the defenders of the western city of Liao were wiped out, and the musketeers fought to kill more than 1,000 people.
Although they kill fewer people, the deterrent power of modern weapons is not comparable to that of cold weapons. From a distance of two hundred steps, Liao soldiers died inexplicably, and the unknown fear brought unprecedented deterrence, leading to the fleeing of Liao soldiers. They chose to be shot by the infantry led by Li Kui, making tonight a satisfying killing for Li Kui.
The musketeers were doing fine, but the infantry led by Li Kui didn't even have time to drink soup before being encircled by the enemy's vanguard.
Meanwhile, Yelv Juncai was thinking that the Song army had used a tactic of feinting an attack from the east and then attacking from the west to draw them away from the mountain. So he immediately sent his vice commander to reinforce Yelv Liangcai, and the losses of the southern city's troops were not great. They could just repair the camp during the day.
西城的骑兵，先是急匆匆跑到南城，帮着干了半天活之后，连口水都没顾得上喝，大半夜匆忙支援，也顾不得带上补充战马体力的大豆和清水，战马其实也有些吃不消，距离倒是不远，但是战马也是动物，既然是动物，就需要休息，就需要补充体力。
在他们跑到半路的时候，盛长槐派来的另外一路援军，五千名大宋骑兵就赢面杀了过来，这一次，大宋支援的骑兵又换了战法，看到辽军回援西城，并没有迎难而上，而是选择了掉头就跑。
As the Liao cavalry pursued, they reached the area where the Song reinforcements had been earlier, when a deafening and continuous sound of explosions shook the ground beneath their feet.
It turned out that the 5,000 Song cavalry, while retreating, heard a gun shot and instinctively pulled out hand grenades from their pockets, then pulled the pin and threw them underneath their own feet instead of towards the Liao army.
今夜大宋援军携带的手榴弹，可不是火枪手和前几天盛长槐利用热气球送来的手榴弹，而是阴人的不二法宝，延时手榴弹。
```htmlWhen Sheng Changhuai was fighting against the thirteen tribes of Hexi Prefecture, he had already mastered the technology of delayed grenades. Now, needless to say, the scene encountered by the Tubo people of the thirteen tribes back then was something that the Liao people never knew. Even when they saw some firelight in front of the fleeing Song cavalry, they were only two or three hundred steps away from the Song cavalry, and the warhorses could cover that distance in at most twenty seconds.```
Such a short time is not enough for an experienced Liao general who has encountered Tibetan cavalry to recognize that this is a tactic employed by the Song cavalry to ambush them. From the South City Camp to the West City Camp, there was no obstruction along the way, so the Song cavalry would naturally take the most direct route. Where the Song cavalry had gone past, the Liao iron cavalry would naturally follow suit.
Five thousand cavalry, that is five thousand grenades. Although one third of the grenades explode before the soldiers of the Liao Dynasty enter the explosion range, there are still over three thousand grenades. This is a close-range killing. Just with this move, half of the eight thousand cavalry from the Western City reinforcements will lose their combat capability.
It was not death, but the horse's legs were injured. The cavalry ahead either stopped or was frightened, indicating that the Liao cavalry had excellent riding skills and did not collide with their colleagues.
However, the excellent horsemanship of the Liao cavalry did not give them much advantage. At the same time as the hand grenade exploded, the fleeing Song cavalry suddenly turned around, splitting into two groups and flanking the Liao cavalry that had lost their fighting ability due to the explosion. They moved around and attacked the rear of the Liao cavalry.
“杀了这些该死的宋蛮子。”
看到大宋骑兵杀了个回马枪，辽国剩余骑兵不惊反喜，在他们印象中，大宋的骑兵不弱于辽国骑兵，甚至更强，没办法，大宋是优中选优，战马少，所以显得强，但是他们刚才也发现，这五千骑兵的骑术，连自家部族的少年都比不上，看样子学会骑马的时间并不长，最多不超过四五个月，辽国骑兵最喜欢的就是这种对手，论骑术，宋人和契丹族比起来，那就是小孩子和成年人的区别。
Unfortunately, they were overestimating themselves. The cavalry of the Great Song dared to confront the cavalry of the Liao Dynasty head-on, even if their equestrian skills were not as good as those of the Liao cavalry, their tactics were the first to appear in this time and space.
These 5,000 cavalry soldiers do not mean all of them are bad at riding, among whom over 3,000 soldiers indeed lacked riding skills, having just been converted from infantry to cavalry for only three or four months. However, more than 1,000 soldiers, led by a young commander, have riding skills that are no worse than the Liao cavalry.
This young general, leading a group of noticeably out-of-sync cavalry, suddenly slowed down when they were less than 100 paces away from the cavalry of the Liao Dynasty. When the Liao cavalry was charging towards them from a distance of 50-60 paces, the general had already completed the maneuver of turning around, and in the fearful sight of the Liao's iron horses, he threw another round of hand grenades.
Even though the Liao cavalry had excellent riding skills and tried to rein in their horses in time, the reaction time plus the speed of the horses meant that they just reached the explosion range of the hand grenades. Although only a few hundred were used this time, the damage was not as great as before. However, this move deprived the Liao horses of their charging power, and the riders at the rear were blocked by their comrades in the front.

Then, more than 3,000 riders behind, half of them directly pulled the reins of their war horses, turned their heads, as if tempting the Liao cavalry to chase. Anyone could see that the cavalry of the Great Song Dynasty wanted to use the old strategy again, but the Liao army was not that stupid. They chose to flank and encircle.

而大宋剩下的骑兵，却堂而皇之的拿起一个烧火棍状的物品，有恃无恐的瞄准射击起来，这个距离，超出了弓箭手的射程，却刚好是火枪的射程，大宋骑兵拿的，当然不是烧火棍，而是正儿八经的火枪。
The psychological quality of the Liao cavalry is much better than that of the infantry. They have heard that the Song Dynasty has developed a new weapon, so they know the flaws of this weapon. They bravely face the loss and are determined to kill these Song people who are playing with them.
However, just now, the more than 1,000 cavalry turned around and charged towards the incoming Liao cavalry. The Liao cavalry thought they would continue to throw grenades, so they performed tactical evasions. However, they never expected that these cavalrymen, upon seeing their scattered pursuit, the young general gave an order. Instead of choosing to throw grenades, they raised one hand to control the horse and maintain the distance. The hand raised suddenly emitted sparks, followed by the sound of gunfire. One after another, the Liao cavalry fell from their horses.
“撤，，撤，，，，撤回西城大寨。”
这时候，刚刚被炸死坐骑的辽国骑兵统领，挣扎的叫了起来，骑上亲兵让给他的战马，看着眼前的景象，声嘶力竭的喊着，让自己麾下的将士撤退，放弃了支援西城的打算。
"Prince Xiao, it's not that we didn't try hard. It's just that the Song people are cunning, with all kinds of strange weapons that seem endless. I'm sorry."
The cavalry commander, who is also Yelv Liangcai's deputy, felt a pain in his heart. He had never fought this kind of battle before, but he could see that if they continued, his side would be completely defeated. The Song cavalry had two types of weapons, one with long range, even if they weren't skilled riders, they could take advantage of the relatively dim light at night, and their own cavalry didn't dare to go at full speed. This "flying kite" tactic was familiar to the Khitan people as a grassland nomad.
Who would have thought that in Zhuozhou, a group of Song dynasty riders who had only been riding horses for less than half a year, actually used kite-flying tactics on the backs of the Khitan iron riders?
And it gets even scarier: the darkness of night may have reduced the strength of the Liao cavalry, but it also made the accuracy of the enemy Song firearms decrease. What's even more terrifying is those riders who could kill their enemies by simply lifting their hands. They held some kind of magical weapon that looked like a sleeve arrow, but had a longer range and was much more convenient to use.
The closer they got, the more accurate the group of people shot, and those people could shoot as soon as they raised their hands, and they could even fire continuously, which was the most frightening. When they caught up with the Song people, he had no idea how many of his men would be left, but he could predict that his remaining four or five thousand people would not be able to take down these Song people.
The cavalry generals of the Liao Dynasty were not sure about how many hand grenades those riders were carrying, or if other firearms would appear. These were all uncertainties he could not guess. Now that they have returned to the South City Stronghold, they can still use the Divine Arm Crossbow and Eight Oxen Crossbow to narrow the gap with the Song Dynasty. However, in the wilderness so far from their camp in the middle of the night, if they continue to engage in combat, their losses would be devastating.
Of course, the shouting of the cavalry commander is not enough to remind the Liao iron cavalry. They still have to rely on the horn command. The way the young Song general commanded just now was actually similar, but he seemed to use something like a whistle.
After the wailing horn sounded, even if the Liao cavalry didn't want to and was unwilling in their hearts, they could only follow orders and return to the site of the explosion to escort the wounded back.
Unfortunately, the Song army acted like a sticky candy, following the retreat of the Liao cavalry. Seeing this scene, the commander of the Liao cavalry issued a painful order to abandon the wounded and retreat immediately, amidst puzzled glances from his subordinates.
And the young Song general, seeing the Liao cavalry make this choice, had an approving look on his face.
"This person is really quick-thinking. As big brother said, there are many capable people among the Liao generals. It's a pity that I wanted to keep more Liao soldiers."
此人赫然便是杨继宗，一旁跟着他的亲兵，乃是盛家族人，脸上全是兴奋之色，用狂热的语气在一旁说的。
“还得是咱们家侯爷神机妙算，夜战果然是对咱们最有利的，咱们家侯爷真是文曲星下凡，竟然能让五千人具备夜视的能力，恐怕除了生孩子咱们家侯爷不会之外，没什么事情能难住咱们家侯爷的了。”
Yang Jizong glanced at the person beside him and didn't want to pay attention to him at all. What does this sentence mean? Did he treat his elder brother like an emperor or an official? The sentence "not able to have children" has ambiguity.