Eagle Byzantium

When this group of infantrymen named "Shushan" suddenly emerged from the grass, the night patrol ambush soldiers who originally raised their guns started firing like thunder.

In the splashing firelight and smoke, the fire bearers and flag bearers of the enemy's patrol armored cavalry were cross-fired, and many "little bugs" buzzed out from their horses and armors - if you look closely, they were the fragments of armor that had been shot through. , and suddenly three or four people fell on their backs under their horses.

The cavalry in the forest who were shot by firearms were knocked down, but they did not panic. After they discovered that there was an ambush of enemy infantry in the grass, they were determined not to suffer the immediate loss, and turned around and ran quickly without showing any interest in fighting.

"Be sure to catch the living tongue!" Under the umbrella on the other side, Gawain was feeling quite nervous as he watched the brief and intense fight.

At this moment, the enemy's light infantry group named "Shu Shan" took on the responsibility of blocking the rear. Gawain only saw white light flashing from their ranks. "Firearms?" Gawain asked in confusion. A sharp whistle sounded - the night patrol soldiers rushed forward, and their armor was immediately hit by the white light and burned. Soon, the entire grass was filled with black smoke. Just when Gawain was secretly sweating - a rough and violent burst Amidst the shouts, the night patrol soldiers covered in fireworks continued to protrude, covered in armor, and soon started fighting with each other with the "Shu Shan".

"Is it just a flaming arrow?"

At this time, Gao Wenfang's scout cavalry, who had retreated in defeat, took the opportunity to return and launch a pursuit. A special cavalry archer from Ogus twisted a forked arrow and shot it like a meteor: an enemy armored cavalry was hit by an arrow in the back. , lying low on the saddle, finally unable to bear the pain, fainted and fell down...

In the end, the Jiaqi and four Shushan soldiers were captured and sent to the Roman emperor sitting under the imperial umbrella on the other side.

The emperor first interrogated the four Shushan soldiers. The guards presented their weapons and lined them up under the seats. Gawain looked at them intently. There were crossbows, swords, and shields.

The sword is ordinary, but the shield is obviously used by infantry. It is extremely large, similar to a kite shield, which can cover most of the body. It is pointed at the top and flat at the bottom. There are several wooden rungs in the middle, and there is something called "戗木", which can Use it to prop up your shield on the ground to ward off arrows.

Gawain was most concerned about the tools used by the Shushan soldiers to set fire just now. Now he saw clearly that they used tube-fired arrows, and there were medicine bags tied to both sides of the arrow shafts, which contained a certain amount of Khitan snow. He personally took an arrow that had not been shot, crushed the medicine packet, put the Khitan snow inside in his hand, looked at it and smelled it, thought about it again, nodded, and then spoke to the Shushan people through the interpreter. Asked, "Where are you originally from?"

Shu Shan and others all bowed their heads in silence, and there was no way to interpret them. They were outside members of the Zhao Zhao Chamber of Commerce. Their previous generation had lived in a foreign country, but they could only speak the language of Seris. They had no idea what had happened there over the past few decades. Got it.

The guards lifted up the sleeves of their robes and found that these Shushans all had a strange character tattooed on their arms. Looking at it, Gawain could only make out the radical "尺", followed by a snake-like font next to it.

Taken together, it is the character "乣".

At this time, an interpreter shouted and reported to the emperor: "Your Majesty, this is the Khitan text!"

Once their identities were exposed, the Shushan group below could not stand it any longer. The emperor comforted them with gentle words, changed their clothes, and gave them some money and goods, so he gave them the information they could know.

It turned out that this group of people were actually soldiers of the "Yi Army" who guarded the western border during the Khitan and Liao Dynasties. The Yi army was the border defense force of the Liao Dynasty. They were usually stationed in the border fortresses. Three years ago, their boss, General Yao Jian Yi, suddenly issued an order: the entire army moved out of the defense line and rode on horseback with the necessary provisions and weapons. , all the way west, somehow.

As a result, in the middle of the journey, more and more Yi Army soldiers gathered from all walks of life, reaching two or three thousand. I don't know where they went. The general suddenly gathered them in a grassland and set up a high platform with a curtain, and stood on it. A young prince in his early twenties shouted to me The life and death of Emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Dynasty is uncertain. Now we have to temporarily surrender to the Song Dynasty and march westward on behalf of His Highness King Gingping of the Song Dynasty. As long as we conquer Hurashan (i.e. Khorasan) and Khwarazm, Gingping will The king promised us to revive Daliao there as a barrier for the vassal state.

At this point, the captured Jiaqi became extremely angry and cursed the four Shushans for their lack of loyalty and integrity.

But Gawain asked the guards to drag him down and continued to ask the four people to continue talking. He was now more concerned about who the young Khitan prince was who asked the Yi army to surrender to the Song Dynasty than King Da Ping.

"Yelü Dashi." One person announced the name, and then the other three looked at each other, nodded, secretly agreed, and confessed to the emperor, "The commander-in-chief of the army coming south from Balakot this time is also It’s His Highness Yelu Dashi.”

Yelu Dashi?

Gawain was surprised and happy in his heart. What he was happy about was that he knew the name of this person. After the death of Liao in his own plane, he was unyielding and headed west, and later defeated the Seljuk Empire in the Battle of Katwan. , established the "Western Liao Empire" that dominated Central Asia (the unearthed cultural relics Gao Wen had obtained an octagonal inkstone that could be heated by fire before crossing); surprisingly, this man did come many years in advance, and He also voluntarily surrendered to Song Dynasty. What's the point of this?

Then the four Shushans said that during the westward march, various tribes of barbarian cavalry such as the Uighurs, the Shiwei Mongols, and the Karas all came to surrender one after another. Yelu Dashi organized the Khitans and Karas into the "core Pishi Army" and "Zhela Army" according to the old system of the Liao Dynasty, and organized the Uighurs and Shiwei Mongols into the "Gu Army". Because they were from the Western Fan, they cancelled their original identity as the Yi Army and were uniformly organized into the "Shushan Army", but the tattoos on their wrists were still there.

And Shushan means "pearl" in the Khitan language. They mainly served as infantry in battles along the way, accompanied the cavalry charge, and also had to shoot arrows and fire cannons; as for "Pishi", it means "King Kong", and "Zhela" means "Patrolman".

A correct version can be found in the 16-9 book forum!

"What about the Song expeditionary army of the King of Gongping you mentioned? What are their organization and tactics?" Gao Wen asked.

The captured Shushan said that the army of King Gongping always kept a considerable distance from them, and they could not spy on the way. Even when they reached the east bank of the Oxus River, the army was stationed in the city of Bukhara, while Yelu Dashi's troops were stationed in the wild. However, Dashi was extremely respectful to King Gongping and often went to the shogunate in Bukhara to report and discuss matters in secret.

In addition, one of them said that his comrades had accidentally seen King Gongping's marching formation, which was about 20,000 people. There were many strange vehicles in the army, but when Gao Wen asked whether these vehicles were running on the trough, Shushan and others shook their heads and said that there was no such phenomenon.

"It seems that Ye Tongpan is really talking nonsense." Gao Wen sneered.