Chapter 18 War is not just talk

Sishuiguan belongs to ancient Chenggao County, located in Sishui Town, 16 kilometers northwest of Xingyang City, Henan Province.The pass is built high on Dagu Mountain to the west of Sishui River, connected to Zhongyue Songshan Mountain to the south, and the Yellow River Sky Moat to the north. The mountains are criss-cross and steep.As a natural danger and barrier to the east of Luoyang, it has always been a battleground for military strategists. According to legend, King Mu of the Western Zhou Dynasty once hunted tigers here and built a "Tiger Prison" to imprison tigers, so it is also called Hulao Pass.And it is Tang Taizong Li Shimin who achieved the great reputation of Hulaoguan.Li Shimin once intercepted Dou Jiande here, besieged the city to fight for aid, captured and killed two anti-kings in one fell swoop, and successfully wiped out the separatist forces that affected the unification of the world.

In the Song Dynasty, there was Zhongtu, and the world was divided into fifteen roads, and four capitals were built.The current four capitals are all in the hands of the Song people, especially Tokyo, where Zongze is in charge, and the number of Jin cannot be violated.Sensing Jinren's intentions, Zong Ze rushed to Sishui Pass first to block the Jinren's way. The Jinren couldn't break through the pass for days, so they formed a formation in front of the pass, showing off their might.There was a cavalry general shouting and cursing at the gate, bursting out with foul language. Yue Fei told Zong Ze that we soldiers in the Central Plains always feel that the Jin people are fierce and difficult to defeat. Often, we are timid before fighting a battle. In fact, the Jin people are also human beings, no different from us.What they rely on is only cavalry, heavy armor and bows and arrows. This golden general rides a strong horse, wears heavy armor, and is tightly wrapped all over his body. take his life.

After finishing speaking, he took a hard bow with iron tires, bent the bow and set an arrow, and exerted strength with both arms, the bowstring was tense, and the bow body made a creaking sound, which made all the soldiers around him widen their eyes and admire him. Divine power. The bow is full, like the moon, and the arrow moves with the figure of the golden future coming and going...Finally set it right, release the string, and the bow whistles, and the arrow comes out, as fast as lightning, as fast as a shooting star, and the prisoner should "respond to the string and die" , Turned over and fell into the dust, and the feather arrow pierced through the neck of the cavalry, carrying dirty blood, and accompanied by the sharp sound of the wind, it flew forward for a long distance before being stuck on the ground.

The sergeants who closed the door cheered together, the sound was like a mountain collapse. However, this was just the beginning, the cheers had not stopped, Yue Fei had already pulled out the second arrow from the quiver, this time, his target was the flag bearers in the Golden Army formation. These "flag bearers" stood in the middle of the golden soldiers' formation, and the golden soldiers' formation was a hundred steps away from the city, which was twice the range of ordinary bows and arrows. Unfortunately, what they met today was Yue Fei, who was born with supernatural power and superb shooting skills!

The breath of death has quietly hit them. "Whoosh", a sharp wind sounded, and the Jinbing bannerman standing in the middle turned over and fell to the ground. The big flag fluttering in the air swung a few times in the wind and fell down. The people in the Jinbing camp still couldn't figure out what was going on, "whoosh", there was another wind, and then the left-wing standard bearer screamed and fell to the ground.The Jin soldiers were all bewildered, all of them were panicked and at a loss, and another wind came to their ears along with the screams-the third bannerman was shot to death.

Thousands of people in the Song army cheered in unison, and their morale was greatly boosted. When Jin Bing figured out the situation, five or six flag bearers had already been killed in a row, scaring the other flag bearers who were holding the flag to look around in panic. Yue Fei asked Zongze to fight without losing the opportunity. He said that the enemy is in chaos now, if they go out to cover up the attack, they will surely win. Zong Ze agreed to his request. During the battle, in order to continue to inspire the fighting spirit of the soldiers, Yue Fei took off his helmet, "was issued", and wielded two four-edged iron maces, "straight into the captive formation".The soldiers of the Song Army watched with enthusiasm. Everyone shouted to kill the bandits, and they all fought bravely to be the first.

In this battle, Yue Fei "ridden and rushed forward", defeated the golden soldiers, and "took armor, horse, bow, and sword to offer".It has added the most colorful touch to the history of Hulao Pass!It's exactly: Ci's lofty aspirations rely on a lone sword to serve the country first and shake the two rivers. Afterwards, the two sides held each other for more than ten days, and Jin Bing was exhausted, and finally retreated in despair. After returning to Tokyo from Sishuiguan, Zong Ze promoted Yue Fei to the position of Commander, and often talked with him all night long, admiring his talent, courage and qualifications.

Once, he said to Yue Fei earnestly: "In terms of your bravery, wisdom and talent, you can be called a first-class general. But you prefer field battles and despise ancient battle formations. This is not good. Now, as a partial general Yes, but if you want to become a general in command of the three armies, how can you not practice military formations?!" As a general, this is not a panacea.") After finishing speaking, he took out several battle maps from the desk to teach them, including the "Ping Rong Universal Formation Map" drawn by Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi and Song Renzong Zhao Zhen during his reign. Compiled "Wu Jing Zong Yao".

In order to recover the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, Zhao Guangyi worked hard and painstakingly to research a set of infantry formations for the cavalry regiment of the Liao people. Cavalry galloping on horseback can form a huge impact. In a sense, the high-speed maneuvering cavalry is the mechanized force of the cold weapon era, with mass destruction!However, there is a shortage of horses in the Central Plains. Even if there are local captive horses, they cannot be compared with the horses of the Liao people because of their short stature, slow speed, lack of stamina, and poor explosive power. infantry superiority against cavalry.

Compared with the Liao people, the advantage of the Song army is that they have mastered superb forging technology, sophisticated weapons, armor generally made of iron, and good protection performance. If they can form a scientific infantry phalanx, they will be invincible in frontal combat. After repeated deduction and assiduous research, Zhao Guangyi and the military group under his leadership combined the unique weapons of the Song Dynasty, such as the god-arm bow and mother-child crossbow, on the basis of the eight formation diagrams left by the ancients. Soldiers, long-spawn soldiers, heavy infantry, cavalry and motorized infantry and other various arms are arranged in large formations, drawn as graphics, and practiced in practice, layer upon layer, with endless changes.

"Wu Jing Zongyao" not only draws the "ancient formations" into pictures, but also illustrates the "ancient formations" and "Eight Formations of the Great Song Dynasty", and emphasizes in "General Introduction to Formations": "Sun Wuyun's 'there are many divergent, chaotic but not chaotic; chaotic chaos, round and not broken', without using formations, how can it be compared to this?" Also from the reign of Renzong, seven classic military books, including "Sun Tzu's Art of War", "Wu Zi's Art of War", "Six Secret Teachings", "Sima Law", "Three Strategies", "Wei Liao Zi", and "Questions and Answers by Li Weigong" were published. Compiled together, in the third year of Yuanfeng (1080) Song Shenzong ordered the highest institution of the dynasty Guozijian Siye Zhufu and others to organize forces to collate, compile, and publish the above seven books.The seven military books after calibration were named "Seven Books of Martial Arts", with a total of twenty-five volumes.This is a martial arts classic selected by the court of the Northern Song Dynasty from more than 340 ancient Chinese military books that were popular at that time. The "Seven Books of the Martial Classics" and "The General Essentials of the Martial Classics" have become compulsory courses for military schools in various places. Obtaining such a wonderful book, Yue Fei was overjoyed as if he had found a treasure. However, after only a rough reading, Yue Fei put the book on the shelf and ignored it. Why is this so? Zong Ze felt very puzzled, and asked him, "How are you reading those methods of marching troops?" Yue Fei replied: "Arranging the formation according to the map is rigid and impermanent, so there is no need to delve into it." Zong Ze was very upset when he heard this, and said, "According to what you said, Taizong's formation is useless?" Yue Fei replied earnestly: "Setting up an formation and then fighting is the most common mode of warfare on the battlefield, but the layout of this formation should not be static, but should be fully utilized and flexibly dispatched to the right time, location, and harmony of people. The so-called application The magic lies in one heart, please stay and observe clearly." ("Stay behind the array map given by you, and observe it with flying familiarity, it is a certainty. The past and the present are different, and the land is dangerous and different. How can you follow a certain map. The key to a military strategist lies in surprises. Unfathomable, you can win. If you encounter captives suddenly in the plains and wilderness, there is no time to form an army! Kuang Fei today used his general to obey his orders, and he did not have many troops, so the formation was fixed, and the captives could see the truth. There is no legacy.") Zong Ze was taken aback, looked at Yue Fei, and said nothing. Yue Fei explained again: "The formation maps given by staying behind are all in a fixed pattern. Just imagine, there are four seasons in a year: spring, summer, autumn and winter. In the same season, there are rain, snow, wind and frost. Different locations are divided into wide, narrow, dangerous, and dangerous areas. , when the two armies confront each other, do they all copy the formation diagram in the book? Soldiers are deceitful. The key to using troops is to win by surprise. When the two armies meet, the enemy has not yet figured out my reality. How about setting up the formation? Now that I have insufficient troops, the formation will let the enemy know the reality of our army, which is self-defeating." Zong Ze, who was silent for a long time, finally said: "Maybe what you said is right." Here, let me say a few words about the martial arts system of the Song Dynasty.Readers may have seen such plots in many novels and operas, saying that Yue Fei once took part in the martial arts exam, shot Xiaoliang Wang, and won the martial arts champion. In fact, Song Wuju is different from Tang Wuju. It changed Tang Wuju’s practice of only pursuing martial arts one-sidedly. During the exam, it not only tested martial arts, but also tested military theory. integrate.In order to show the importance attached to the selection of military personnel, the imperial court also pioneered the martial arts palace examination, and formulated a three-level examination system of understanding examination, provincial examination, and palace examination.The martial art test is mainly based on bow and horse, while the theory test first answers policy questions, and then tests the military textbook "Seven Books of Martial Arts" specially compiled by the imperial court. According to Yue Fei's method of not sticking to the art of war, it is estimated that it will be difficult to pass the test of the chief examiner, let alone win the champion of martial arts. But Zong Ze strongly felt that the young man in front of him was quite gifted in military affairs and could make correct judgments in complex situations. His future would be immeasurable. It is also because of this that Song people said when commenting on Zong Ze: "Although I am not ready for use, I can still get a Yue Fei for Song!"