There is an old city in the valley winding along the Huaisha River. Legend has it that it was the residence of the people of the Neijing people. It was surrounded by mountains and in the middle was a mountain basin. There were nearly 10,000 acres of fertile flat land in front of it. There were two rivers of Huaisha and Boquan and many springs in the basin. They built the city here. After that, historical changes, the city was captured by the enemy, the residents fled, and became a abandoned city.

Many years later, the Bohai Kingdom was destroyed by the Sui Dynasty. Some people who fled from Bohai saw that the grass and trees were flourishing here, so they settled here and built a city of earth. Because these people were originally from the Bohai Kingdom and were displaced due to war, they inevitably felt missed their hometown. In order to express this homesickness, they called themselves Bohai people and called their residence "Bohai City".

When the Mongols went south to destroy Jin, they had already reached a certain scale. During the war, Tucheng was once again breached, and the people fled and became a abandoned city. After entering the Yuan Dynasty, it became a must-pass place to the Liaodong Post Road and the Xiyan Road. The Mongols also set up a museum here and sent guards to garrison it, renamed the Bohai Station, becoming a key place to control the capital.

Because it is located in a fortress where people and cars come and go, and commerce is very lively. Now, because the war between the Song and Yuan dynasties broke out, people are gone, and the guards stationed in the city have long been expelled and controlled by the Song army. The peace here was broken yesterday and has become a battlefield for the two armies to compete for.

"The commander-in-chief, the first brigade is in an emergency, please send reinforcements!" The former garrison in Tucheng became the headquarters of the Song Dynasty Expeditionary Force at this time, and Sima Li Zhen reported.

"Send the first battalion of engineers and tell Huang Fan that he must guard the pass and do not take another step back!" Luo Datong, who was looking at the map, looked up and said.

"Master, you can't continue to fight like this anymore. There will be a time when the oil will be over. We cannot have no reserve team in our hands, and the troops in the camp are extremely tight!" Li Zhen picked up the kettle on the table and drank the air water, wiped his mouth and said.

"What should I do? The messengers sent out had no reply and were cut off from the news from the camp. I don't know when reinforcements will arrive!" Luo Datong sighed, and he was also helpless.

The emperor and the court were "divided up" and under pressure, they reduced their troops and formed an expeditionary force to protect maritime trade and opened new trade points. Therefore, they put most of the troops of the Imperial Navy, and used the Fourth and Fifth Brigades of the Imperial Guards as backbones, with Liu Wenjun as the commander, Luo Datong as the deputy, and Li Zhen, the former commander of the Second Brigade, as Sima.

After the army was formed, the expeditionary army was composed of two parts: the land and water. The navy had more than 200 warships and auxiliary ships, all of which were new warships, with a total of more than 10,000 troops. The infantry army had six regiments under its jurisdiction, and six regiments directly under the military headquarters, including guard regiments, cavalry regiments, engineering regiments, baggage regiments, artillery regiments and supplementary regiments, with a force of more than 20,000.

Because the expeditionary forces were responsible for protecting overseas interests, they needed to float on the sea for a long time, and it was very difficult to return to the east in summer. However, they were always ready to fight without mobilizing troops that could participate in the war at any time. Their nature also determined that they could rely on self-sufficiency instead of supporting long-term combat, so this time they handed over the task of breaking the enemy's retreat deep behind the enemy.

The expeditionary army fought very smoothly in the early stages of the battle. Without any fierce battles, they completed the task of occupying Tanzhou. Then they turned to defensive operations, resting and waiting for the next order. The commander Liu Wenjun was born in a navy army and was not good at land warfare. After landing, he stayed at Lu Long to preside over the military affairs of the Yongping Prefecture, and Luo Datong presided over the front line military affairs.

During this period, they were also very calm in this regard. Most of the battles were limited to reconnaissance operations, and no major wars occurred. However, just last night, the Mongols suddenly launched a large-scale battle against Tanzhou, and the pre-war precautions made Luo Datong feel puzzled, and it also made them passive.

The mission of the Expeditionary Force was to cut off the Mongols' retreat to Liaodong and outside the Great Wall. Due to the mountainous areas and numerous valleys, in order to prevent the enemy from circling and interspersing in the rear, Luo Datong had to deploy more defenses when arranging troops, which also led to the dispersion of troops. The enemy secretly mobilized troops, used the dark night and lush vegetation in the mountains as cover, and had already lurked in front of their positions before the battle broke out. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was under his nose.

Before the battle broke out, the scouts of the Mongolian Yuan successfully cleared the guard post in front of the Song army's positions and shot the post with a crossbow. If they had not stepped on the mine and exposed their whereabouts, they would have rushed directly into the frontier position of the Song army. Then the two sides fought fiercely, but after receiving the report, the command posts at all levels of the Song army only thought that the enemy's harassment operations were harassing, and did not realize that this was a large-scale operation launched by the Mongolian Yuan.

The trigger of a battle, like a lit firecracker, detonated the battle on the entire front. After the battle broke out, the Yuan army launched a fierce attack without hesitation, and continued to attack the position. Fortunately, the Expeditionary Force paid great attention to defense because it had been fighting in unfamiliar areas for a long time.

Therefore, the Song army built perfect fortifications in all positions and stocked up several base ammunition. Although the enemy's offensive was fierce, they occupied favorable terrain and had fortifications to rely on. With their advantages in weapons, most of the main positions were kept before dawn, and the defense line was basically kept intact, but at this stage they were still fighting on their own.

After a little dawn, as the vision became better and the communications were restored, the Song army discovered that a large number of enemy troops were gathered on the defense line, and the enemy troops in front of the positions were as thick as an ant cluster climbing up the mountain. The situations everywhere were also gathered at the command center. Only then did the generals of Luo Datong and other military personnel realized that this was an organized and planned large-scale attack by the Yuan army, and hurriedly sent messengers to the camp to report the situation.

After dawn, the Yuan army's attack became even more fierce. They used elite soldiers wearing heavy armor as their vanguards and used the mountain as cover to attack the Song army's positions. Following them were infantrymen with only light armor and long swords. Once the vanguards opened the gap, they swarmed in from then on. Then they were crossbowmen, who suppressed the Song army with dense rain of arrows, and there were also magical archers wandering around and sniping the Song army officers with cold arrows.

Although the Song army occupied favorable terrain and was equipped with sharp firearms, they did not have an absolute advantage.

First of all, the dense vegetation and mountainous conditions in the mountains hindered the view of the watch and limited mobility. In particular, the falling shells were separated by branches and it was difficult to kill the enemy on a large scale. Therefore, the most powerful ones on the position were mortars and grenades, which were all relied on them to barely suppress the enemy's continuous attacks.

Secondly, due to the long front line of the Song army and the insufficient troops, the defense line seemed too thin under the Yuan army's human sea tactics at all costs. Once the position was broken, the defenders would be wiped out. The lack of troops made it difficult to organize troops to fight back, and it was difficult to recover the lost positions, which caused a gap in the defense line and endangered the overall situation.

In addition, the troops dispatched by the Mongol Yuan this time were not only far superior to the Song army, but also all were elite infantrymen. They were skilled in mountain combat and were able to make full use of geographical terrain. They had already planned and attacked more points, concealing their battle attempts, and also considered the gap in combat power between the two sides, carefully selected tactics to enable their advantages to be exerted.

"The Mongolian and Yuan dynasties seem to have been planning this battle for a long time, and caught us off guard?" Luo Datong said in anger.

"Yes, it can be seen from the armor of the Yuan army soldiers who were shot dead!" Li Zhen nodded, "The vanguard was wearing heavy armor, covered with chain mail, and leather armor inside. Although it could not block the bullets that were shot in the near-fire, it was difficult to kill him with one shot, so that he could still have combat effectiveness!"

The muskets equipped by the Song army can shoot through the iron armor commonly equipped by the Mongolian Yuan, causing fatal damage to it, but the leather armor is not as fragile as people think. The production process of the leather armor is also extremely complex. It is not made of a whole leather, but is divided into small pieces and placed in a mold and pressed at high temperature to increase its hardness.

After the craftsman presses the armor into the armor, he also needs to repeatedly apply raw paint. The raw paint is not only anti-corrosion, but also increases the hardness of the armor. After many paintings and drying, the armor has a strong defense. Therefore, the production process is very complicated. A good pair of leather armor takes two or three years to succeed, and can block the knife and gun, and ordinary crossbows are difficult to penetrate the armor.

After the Southern Transit, the Song army lost several wars in the later period because the quality of the soldiers decreased. They only used five-dou bows and were difficult to shoot through the armor on the enemy's body. Naturally, they could not cause fatal damage to them and could not stop their charges. It was not surprising that the enemy was defeated. Now the attacking enemy was wearing two layers of armor. Although the movement was limited, they also reduced the damage and allowed them to break into the front of the formation.

"The governor, you can't fight like this anymore!" Li Zhenyan said, "At present, the enemy has blocked all channels and cut off contact with Tongzhou and the camp. They cannot know the situation of the battle and will find it difficult to obtain reinforcements in a short period of time. We should readjust the deployment and preserve our strength before we can persist!"

"Well, it makes sense. Adjustment and deployment must be based on defending the path and preventing the enemy from breaking through." Luo Datong nodded, "In addition, adjusting deployment should also find the right opportunity. Don't take advantage of the enemy, causing the entire defense line to collapse and cause unnecessary casualties."

"Not bad!" Li Zhenjian reached a consensus with him and gestured on the map, "Now our army is deploying along the two wings of the river valley, spreading in a fan shape. In order to prevent the enemy from infiltration, he was surrounded by the enemy by the enemy, and arranged troops in each valley and side and back, resulting in too dispersed forces. If he was attacked by a strong enemy, he would be unable to care about one and lose another and be conquered by the enemy one by one!"

"You mean to shrink the troops while ensuring that the passage is not lost, and implement key defenses around the post road." Luo Datong said with concern, "But our mission is to prevent the pseudo-Emperor of the Mongol Yuan from fleeing the north. If his army's troops shrink and he uses the space to break through the encirclement and escape, how will he explain to His Majesty!"
Chapter completed!