The Song-Jin War lasted for a hundred years, and the two armies faced each other countless times. However, among those tragic battles, few are as fresh as the Battle of Shunchang. A Song army of only 5,000 men, under the wise command of Liu Qi, with its cunning and indomitable will to fight, turned the tide and defeated the attack of the Jin army of 100,000. This battle not only created Liu Qi's reputation as a "fierce general", but also injected infinite confidence and morale into the military and people of the Southern Song Dynasty. Was this just a fluke victory? Or is there a deeper mystery behind it?
1. Unexpected encounters, difficult choices
At the beginning of May of the ninth year of Shaoxing (1139), Liu Qi, the deputy commander of the Song army in Tokyo, commanded more than 20,000 men and horses, and successfully crossed the river to Shunchang City, Anhui. According to the original plan, the army will continue to move north to Kaifeng to take up his post. However, at this moment, a bad news came like thunder - the new commander of the Jin State, Wanyan Zongbi (Wushu), suddenly betrayed his word and personally led an army of 100,000 to outflank the south and attack the Southern Song Dynasty.
Although Shunchang was a remote town at that time, it was strategically important, and once it was lost, it would open up a road for the Jin army to attack the Yangtze River. Therefore, Liu Qi, who is over half a hundred years old, is faced with a pivotal choice - retreat to southern Xinjiang or fight hard? In the months before, the Southern Song government had made great concessions to avoid a resumption of war, and had paid tribute to the Jin. Now a little neglect will be wasted.
Seeing that Shunchang was in a remote location, the city was dilapidated, and the grain and grass reserves were very limited, the escort officers constantly persuaded them that they should retreat and wait for reinforcements from the main force. However, although Liu Qi has experienced a lot of battlefields, he knows very well that the withdrawal of leading troops will often lead to greater discouragement of the army. In the Battle of Fuping that year, it was the main general's escape that caused the collapse of the battle line. Now that most of the expeditionary armies have been attacked by the Jin soldiers, retreating to southern Xinjiang will undoubtedly cause the Song army to retreat.
After repeated considerations, Liu Qi made up his mind categorically: Shunchang must be defended to the death, even if it is to resist the 100,000 army of the Jin people with a limited number of troops!
After making up his mind, Liu Qi immediately implemented the policy of "breaking the kettle and sinking the boat", burned all the baggage, escorted his wife and children into the city, and once again reaffirmed to the soldiers his determination to defend his home and country to the death. Liu Qi personally ascended the city tower, arranged the marksman's position, and organized a preparatory battle. In addition, he sent a team to reconnoiter the whereabouts of the Jin army and keep abreast of the enemy's situation.
In late May, the main force of the Jin army had arrived at Baisha Vortex one after another, commanded by Han Chang, the general of Zhaowu, and it was expected that Shunchang would be overwhelmed within a day or two. At this time, there was no room for the Song army to retreat, and everyone looked resolute. Liu Qi bravely shouted: "All the gentlemen must remember that the Jin people are a thousand-year-old vengeance, and this time it is bound to be a decisive battle!" We can only win if we work together! ＂
Waiting, a thrilling battle of life and death began.
Second, the dense forest lurks, and the night attack on the gold camp
In the early morning of 26 May, the vanguard of the Jin army pressed the border to Shunchang. Han Chang, the general of Zhaowu, who personally led the supervising division, was greatly disdainful in the face of the dilapidated Shunchang city defense. He decided to camp first to rest and wait for the whole army to arrive before launching a general attack.
After Liu Qi learned of the enemy's movements, he did not rashly open the city to meet the battle, but set up a careful ambush strategy. He ordered elite archers to garrison the city, secretly watching every move of the Jin army; At the same time, 500 light horsemen were selected to sneak into the nearby dangerous forest area in two ways to ambush.
At dusk, the Jin arms and arms had already set fire to the prairie and smoke and dust were rising. The cavalry approached along the thick smoke, but unexpectedly fell into the ambush arranged by the Song army in the forest. Song Qi suddenly killed, and shot like rain of arrows, killing and wounding hundreds of Jin troops in an instant.
Seeing the fire, Han Chang said that it was a fire in the camp, and hurriedly led many cavalry to fight the fire. Unexpectedly, before they could get closer, they were ambushed and killed by another Song cavalry, and dozens of Jin soldiers were killed and wounded in a rain of arrows. Han Chang's side commander Xu Qi was pierced through the abdomen by a stray arrow and was seriously injured immediately. The Jin army was in chaos and fell into the double tricks of the Song army.
Liu Qi had a quick opportunity, and immediately ordered the rocket battalion to attack from the head of the city, and launched the whole army to rush out of the city to fight a decisive battle with the Jin army. The Song army blocked, harassed, and blocked the Jin army from beginning to end, and the Song army did not stop until the Jin army was defeated and retreated for dozens of miles.
Although the two sides only won a small battle in this battle, the losses of both sides were limited. However, this battle was a well-designed tactical victory for the Song army, showing Liu Qi's self-preservation and treacherous military resourcefulness. Although Han Chang was a famous general, he fell for the Song army, lost the opportunity, and was forced to suspend the attack and digest the battle losses. The Jin army lost its troops, which worsened the initial momentum.
While the Song army greatly boosted the morale and fighting spirit of all the soldiers, it also tasted the advantage of Shunchang's geographical advantage against the 100,000 Jin army. This made Liu Qi see the hope of survival in a desperate situation, and his determination to defend Shunchang to consume the enemy's strength was even stronger.
Third, the empty city trick, the Jin army panicked
After the fierce battle, both sides suffered a certain degree of damage and temporarily fell into a stalemate stage. Although the Jin army has the advantage of strength, it also knows that it should not be careless to underestimate the enemy. Liu Qi tried to slow down the pace of the attack and waited for an opportunity.
At the beginning of June, Liu Qi secretly deployed and used tricks to destroy the heart of the main force of the Jin army. He ordered two henchmen to disguise themselves as ordinary people and blend into the camp of the Jin army. The two took advantage of the darkness to infiltrate, released all the livestock of the Jin army, and then set fire to a large amount of baggage and grain and grass. In the midst of the chaos, the two spread rumors that the city of Shunchang had been vacated by the main force of the Song army.
The rumors quickly spread among the Jin army, although Han Chang and others did not think so at first, but the Song army's position in the city has been depressed for several days, which is indeed faintly suspicious. Many generals also had no difficulty in capturing the empty city. So Han Chang decided to use the strategy of feint attack and ambush, arranged three armies and five sentinels, and led the way by five elite military academies, and raided the city of Shunchang with surprise soldiers.
At dawn on the sixth day of the first month of June, the three armies shouted and cheered, and the five Jin armies charged forward separately. However, the sound of cannons rumbled, and the rain of arrows suddenly fell from the city, and hundreds of Jin soldiers were killed in an instant. It turned out that Liu Qi had already secretly ordered the archers to lurk at the head of the city, arranged the killers and artillery lines, and built a solid shooting network. The Jin army was surrounded by the fire of ten thousand arrows piercing the heart, and they were all severely damaged.
What's even more tragic is that when the Jin army climbed halfway, Liu Qifu ordered the Song army's artillery battalion to shoot rockets from the left and right flanks outside the city, and immediately besieged the Fifth Route Jin Army. Under the combined firepower, the Jin army lost almost half of it.
Liu Qi, the most unparalleled shooter, personally held a killer and artillery to help, and the gun hit, and the arrow was not missed. In just one day's effort, the Jin army's several pioneers were all defeated. Han Chang's formation was in chaos, so he had to give the order to retreat.
Fourth, the strategy and courage between the knife and the stirrup
In the stalemate in the early stage of the Battle of Shunchang, although the Song army relied on its tricks and firepower superiority to block the Jin army's attack many times, it still needed to introduce new combat factors in order to completely get rid of passivity. At this critical moment, Liu Qi and his subordinates exerted extraordinary wisdom and courage.
First of all, there is the strengthening of long-range firepower. Liu Qi secretly ordered the quartermaster officials to transcribe and popularize the most advanced "gunpowder gun" manufacturing technology at that time. Although this kind of gunpowder-burning stone shooter has been developed, it has not yet been used on a large scale in actual combat. Liu Qi not only ordered to step up the production of guns in Shunchang, but also ordered people to learn to make various gunpowder formulas. Soon, a special firecracker came into being and became the killer weapon of the Song army.
Second, the Song army began to borrow and implement guerrilla tactics. In order to defuse the advantage of the Jin army, Liu Qi ordered the troops to divide into several small groups and harass them in the suburbs and jungles. They waited for an opportunity to set fires, or attacked the enemy camp, or waved a shot at the head of the city, disrupting the march of the Jin army as much as possible. After several guerrilla attacks, the Jin army was in chaos, and many brave soldiers were killed and wounded in the short-term charge.
In addition, Liu Qi adjusted the military personnel in time and recruited a large number of local warriors to join. With their familiarity with the terrain and roads, they went deep into the hinterland of the Jin army and set fire to looting, forming a trend of long-lasting harassment. Liu Qi even divided the elite division into pieces and incorporated them into various small guerrilla units. The Song army, whose morale soared, thus occupied the advantage of being familiar with the people.
What is particularly critical is that in the face of the repeated provocations of the long-term anxious Jin army, the officers and men of the Song army were unusual, not only had no fear, but were full of fighting spirit and full of confidence in Liu Qi's leadership and command. Under the deterrence of "breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat", both elite veterans and new warriors supported and responded to the call to die and die for the country.
In mid-June, the Song and Jin armies encountered the third major confrontation, and Liu Qi personally charged into the battle, and the rifle operation was unrelenting. Seeing this, Jin Jun couldn't help but panic and run away. Even veterans such as Han Chang were shocked by the overwhelming momentum of Mount Tai of the Song Army. After repeated losses, the stubborn resistance of the commander of the Jin Army has collapsed.
Fifth, the decisive battle is approaching, and the commander of the Jin Army suddenly encounters an accident
After nearly a month of maneuvering and entanglement, the Song and Jin armies held each other until late June. During this period, the Song army relied on its geographical advantages and guerrilla harassment tactics to repeatedly disrupt the march and fighting spirit of the Jin army. Although he was still at a disadvantage in terms of total strength, Liu Qi had succeeded in forcing the Jin army into chaos.
For a time, the Jin army felt that it was quite difficult to win. Han Chang and other coaches originally relied on the absolute advantage of having a large number of generals, and they were full of contempt for the Song army. However, the capriciousness of the protracted war situation has created a psychological gap between the officers and men of Jin. The Song army's courageous and fierce will to resist the war and its proactive strategic offensive greatly impacted the morale of the Jin army. The Jin army was passively prepared for a little panic, and its determination to attack was not as good as before.
At the critical moment when the two sides were at a stalemate, an unexpected accident happened at the top of the Jin Army. Xu Yue, the envoy of the supervising army directly under the central government, suddenly received a secret order from the Beijing Division, demanding that the Jin army immediately withdraw its troops and strike the attack, and meet the latest strategic deployment of the division.
Xu Yue immediately ordered more than 1,000 soldiers of the prison army stationed outside the Jin camp to surround Han Chang's camp and capture his company and horses alive. Unexpectedly, there was a sudden personnel change in the Jin army. It is reported that Xu Yuenai is the newly dispatched ambassador of the central government to supervise the army, and he has not shown up because of his weak troops.
For a while, there was chaos in the Jin army's array, and several main generals looked at each other. Although Han Chang was captured alive, he also ordered the Jin army to temporarily cease fire and wait and see. The soldiers had no master to rely on for a while, so they had to obey orders.
The news soon spread from Jin Ying to Song Jun's ears. When Liu Qi learned of this change, he ordered caution to stay in Shunchang again, as he did not know what the Jin army would do next. The Song army was also in full position in case the Jin army took advantage of the chaos to launch a final general attack.
However, it was not until 30 June that Xu Yuefang, in his capacity as the ambassador of the Supervision Army, formally met with Liu Qi and slowly explained to him the central authorities' recent arrangements for the new strategic arrangements and personnel reorganization of the Jin Army. It turned out that after ten years of protracted confrontation, the two sides of Song and Jin had already gradually entered a stalemate. If this vicious battle continues, the consequences will be unimaginable. Shortly after Kim Jang-jong succeeded to the throne, the government and the opposition also tended to readjust their foreign policy. Therefore, the Central Committee of the Kim Central Committee decided to withdraw the troops this time in order to leave room for future strategic planning.