He bent out of the felt sedan chair and stood up straight, looking at the distant Xiangyang City, and the Song army infantry who were out in front of the city. *Yan*Qing*Shou* A waiter took out a piece of silk and wiped it gently, and wiped the fine sweat beads on his forehead.

Since the southern expedition, he has been in poor health, so he can't even ride a war horse. He just sits in a ox-rammed carriage to handle various military affairs. When he was about to fight, he only rides in a soft sedan carrying eight people, and most of the affairs in the army were left to Tasihe and Gu Wenbuhua to manage.

He struggled to support himself and looked at the Song army in the distance from the sedan chair. After a while, Tasi came from the front with several cavalry. He knew Tasi's temperament, just like the famous general Mu Huali of the previous generation, Tasi was the best at observing the enemy's material formation at close range. Although this was a very risky thing for the chief general of the first army, he could also receive huge benefits. It is precisely because of this that many famous generals would risk being captured by the enemy and enjoy it.

He bent his body against the cushion and asked weakly: "How did the Sinansi army set up its formation in front of him?"

Tasi was not able to salute, holding the horse whip in his hand and said, "Sinan Si people formed four square formations, and there were six rows of square formations in the sudden front. They seemed to be all long-range shooters. The spearmen and heavy axe fighters were arranged behind the back. The two wings were mixed with spears and bows and arrows, specifically used to cover the central formation, but the most important thing was not this. Instead, the Si people set up a horse-resisting quarrel in front of the formation to block our army's assault."

Qu Cai laughed, and he said in a deep voice: "In other words, they seem to be determined and do not intend to attack our army on their own initiative? It's such a foolish behavior."

Tasi said without hesitation: "It doesn't matter. It's just a team of warriors go out and lure them out, and then the team will attack them from all directions. It's like when we used rabbits to lure foxes and then caught them with falcons. This trick from the Southern people is of no use to us."

Qu Chu waved his hand and said, "I'm very relieved to lead troops to fight. Last year, your performance was much better than Tacha'er. Tacha'er was confused at the time of the battle and did not actively reinforce the surrendered troops in De'an Prefecture, which led to them being wiped out by the Sinansi people. Now you are the commander of the army below. Don't be scruples, and give full play to your talents!"

He paused and said, "But I'm not right after thinking about it before the war. If someone reports this to the Khan after the war, you can't tell me clearly no matter how much you argue."

Tasi said indifferently: "If they say that Zheng Yunming is an extremely precious talent to the Khan. According to the confession of Sinansi people captured last year, the bamboo generals who sprayed gunpowder and stone were all invented and designed by him. Now wherever the army reaches, the tribes in the Qionglu can no longer be found. Every time the army advances to a country, it will inevitably face a solid city made of stones and bricks. Even if they use the catapults from the Han area to attack, they are sometimes powerless. As long as they can persuade Zheng Yunming to serve the Khan, we can obtain such terrifying weapons. We can no longer have cities in the Qingtian that we and the Mongols cannot capture. We can gallop at will until the end of the world."

Qu Qiu nodded and said, "There will definitely be no shortage of these fire-breathing monsters in the Sinan Si people's formation. The warriors must be careful when approaching the enemy's formation."

Tassy then shouted loudly: "Let Choss start the attack!"

Zhao Kui had already turned to the west city tower to watch the battle. Seeing the opponent's formation slowly turning, thousands of cavalry evacuated like flying crows and stars, forming an extremely loose formation towards the Zhenwu Army, which had been set up.

What made him feel fresh was that the black battle flags held high among the Mongolian cavalry that scattered this time were decorated with a white cross sign, which was never seen during the attack last year.

He turned his head and asked the generals, "What kind of man is this? Why is the battle flag covered with cross-shaped patterns?"

Everyone was unaware of the wrinkles, only Yang Xuan said, "The one who came here was the military horses of thousands of Hu people who copied Si."

"The troops of Zhaosi were all Naiman tribes conquered by Genghis Khan." Zheng Yunming said: "The Naiman people are all Nesman disciples. They believe in crosses. If they go out in the opposite formation, they must first worship the leader and then go to war."

"What the Hu people believe is indeed strange," said Yang Xuan: "Where can anyone believe in a cross in the Middle Earth?"

Zheng Yunming looked at the movements of the Mongolian cavalry with his hand, and said casually: "What's strange about this? They didn't believe in Nestalism. It was because the Nestorians from the Central Plains fled to the north to preach in the tribe, and they believed in Nestorians."

Zhao Kui smiled and said, "Does the officials know about this?"

"I just know one or two." Zheng Yunming replied: "The Christian faith is everywhere in the western countries. Like the religions in the Central Plains, there are many sects and no struggles. In the Balkans, there is a major sect leader named Nestoli, whose views are not consistent with the others, so he left angrily. He led a group of disciples to the tent of the Persian king and promoted his own sect views in Persia. People in the world think that this sect is a branch of Christianity. Although its views are inconsistent with the authenticity, they must always be in line with each other, just like the Sixth Patriarch back then.

Huineng broke away from the Northern Zen and established the Southern Zen. This Nestori sect was widely spread in Persia and Turkic places. By the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, believer Aroben led 21 monks from Persia to Middle-earth, and obtained the approval of the Emperor of Tang to build temples in Chang'an and preach doctrines. The Tang people called it Nestorianism, so Nestorianism flourished for a while in Chang'an, and many believers were believed. Like Buddhist monks, their followers took the extensive preaching of doctrines as the basis, so they spread across the country to preach, and even went to Naiman, Mongolia, Khitan, Turkic and other places."

"When Wuzong destroyed Buddhism, Nestorianism was severely damaged, and monks and nuns were forced to return to secular life. A large number of monks had to flee to the northern part of the Western Regions and took root in Nestorianism here. Therefore, most of the barbarians in the Western Regions and the northern part of the Mobei region have faith in the cross, which is actually mostly due to the education of the Central Plains of the Tang Dynasty."

The Naiman cavalry in the distance seemed to be responding to Zheng Yunming's introduction, holding up the white cross flag and roaring loudly, as if showing the power of God, but they were not in a hurry to take the initiative to attack.

Zhao Kui smiled and said, "It seems that these Nai Barbarians are not as eager and warlike as the real Mongolians."

"That's not the case. When Genghis Khan was fighting Taishan and Naiman Sun Khan, the Naiman soldiers were brave enough to shoot the Mongolian army from the mountain, which also made the Mongolian army in embarrassment. If they were to be warlike, they would not lose to the real Mongolians." Zheng Yunming said: "What I am afraid of is that they are exploring the situation of our army, and maybe they will soon..."

While he was talking, Naiman's formation suddenly changed. Half of the soldiers rushed over, pulled the bow and started shooting at the Zhenwu Army formation. The other half began to concentrate in large numbers at a speed of thunder, and spread across the front and two flanks of the Zhenwu Army.

Although the light archers of Naiman were not as light and flexible as those of the Mongolian headquarters, they were better than the pure archery skills. The light archers quickly advanced to a distance of only a few dozen steps from the Zhenwu Army. They rushed to a sudden arrow with the arrows of the Zhenwu Army, and then quickly escaped from the distance of the bows and arrows. As they rose and fell, an unarmed Song soldier was caught in an arrow. If it were in the ordinary Song Dynasty or Jin army, this would inevitably cause a riot in the military formation, but the Zhenwu Army's military appearance could persist without moving in such scattered harassment.

"This is Wang Deng's army management." Zhao Kui said to Zheng Yunming: "The Song Dynasty has never seen such a strict army in the past few decades. If everyone is like Wang Jingsong, why should we be afraid of the million-strong Mongolian army?"

Zheng Yunming was worried in his tone: "The enemy is about to start attacking. Only by keeping the position of the iron cavalry as they rush to the fortitude can they be considered an army that can compete with the Mongols slightly."

Just as he was speaking, the Naiman's armored cavalry shouted in unison, urging the horse to sit down and start slowly. The horse spread its four hooves, first jogging in a small step, and then gradually accelerated. When he advanced to tens of steps away from the Song army's formation, the iron armored cavalry coming from all over the field were already attacking at full speed.

When Wang Deng watched the heavy cavalry as he was shaking the sky and the earth, he understood why the Jin Kingdom had so many tenacious and daring troops, and had such a rich manpower and supplies in the Central Plains, but he was defeated every battle, so he hurried in Henan and did not dare to stand out.

When facing the astonishing assault of the Mongolian heavy cavalry, unless it is extremely strict training and can maintain an absolutely disciplined infantry formation, the soldiers will definitely panic and collapse.

If the Mongolian army will only move after rushing, regardless of the number of troops, they will devote all their forces to the opponent's collapsed formation. Taking advantage of the situation to cover up the killing, the two wings are long, and they will chase while driving away. Even if the opponent's 100,000 troops will be unable to withstand such a cavalry assault.

Whether or not one can defend the opponent's first wave of impact is related to the life and death of the entire Zhenwu Army.

And the moment of survival was right in front of you. Wang Deng shouted loudly: "The enemy's impact is coming! Stay tuned the formation!"

His orders were passed down one by one by one by one: "Stable the formation!" "Stable the formation!"

The soldiers held the weapons in their hands tightly, waiting for the moment when the enemy cavalry rushed towards the tide of the sensational sound of horse hooves.

The Dahongshan crossbowmen who stood at the forefront of the entire formation were not as nervous and anxious as they were. They were all focused on estimating the distance between the enemy's forward and themselves.

The moment the cavalry rushed into a hundred steps, Dai Yanwo, the deputy general of the shooting army, said briefly and powerfully: "Shoot!" A row of crossbow arrows flew out of the crossbow arms with strong force. Cavalry began to fall in the enemy's vanguard, but it was obvious that the opponent did not lose his courage with such fierce shooting, and he was still rushing towards the Song army's formation. [End of this chapter]
Chapter completed!