In fact, Yang Yan also felt that Jin Jun's performance today was a little strange, but he didn't think much about it, because Yang Yan knew the advantages and disadvantages of artillery at a glance, and he never thought that artillery was so terrible, so he didn't think that Wan Yan Changzhi was afraid of artillery. Of course, this is mainly because of the different mentalities of the two sides, even if the Song army loses this battle, it does not mean that it will lose the entire battle, and if the Jin army loses, then this southern expedition will basically end in failure.

However, after seeing that the Jin army had arranged the formation, Yang Yan immediately ordered: "Beat the drum and attack." ”

"Knock-knock-" The war drums beat, but to Wan Yan Changzhi, who had heard the roar of artillery, it was nothing at all. But what made him feel strange was that this time the Song army would take the initiative to attack?

This thought turned in Wan Yan Changzhi's mind, only to see a strange cry of "Ang, Ang" in the Song army's formation, the heavy armored infantry in the front row quickly closed Long, giving way to countless passages, and the war elephants in the back row opened their thick limbs, shook their huge bodies, and let out a burst of high-pitched elephant hisses, like the array of the Jin army rushed over.

Wan Yan Changzhi couldn't help but be surprised, this time the Song army not only took the initiative to attack, but also used war elephants to attack at the beginning. The Jin army's impression of war elephants was still in the last southern expedition, when the Song army used war elephants as a special type of troops to deal with Tiefutu, and never used war elephants as the main force of attack on the battlefield.

In fact, at that time, Yang Yan didn't want to use the war elephant as the main force of the attack, this guy was huge, full of strength, and thick skin, both the impact and the resistance to the attack were super strong, and he was indeed a good hand in frontal combat, to a certain extent, the war elephant was even more practical than artillery. It's just that at that time, the Great Song Dynasty did not produce elephants, and the hundreds of war elephants used were all captured or compensated from the branches, and one less was lost if one died. Therefore, it must be used leisurely.

And now it is different, the Great Song Dynasty annexed Dali by the scriptures, set up the Annan Road, the Dali area can also produce elephants, with the fixed reinforcement of elephants, it will naturally not shrink back from use, so in the battle of the Great Song Dynasty to capture Western Xia, the Song army took the initiative to use war elephants.

At present, the Great Song Elephant Army is subordinate to the Ma Army's Si Kerong Army, and the approved standard is 1,000 war elephant units. In fact, there are less than 1,000 elephants in the Great Song Dynasty now, but on the one hand, because the maintenance cost of elephants is too high, the cost of a war elephant unit is almost worth more than ten heavy armored cavalry, and it is difficult to afford more, on the other hand, Yang Yan has never been superstitious about a certain type of army, and it is enough to maintain so many war elephant units.

Moreover, the elephant army is divided into a negative artillery elephant army and a heavy armored elephant army, the former has a total of 300 war elephant units, one elephant is two, the elephant does not wear armor, only carries a launcher that projectiles firearms, controlled by two Song troops, quite like the Poxi army of Western Xia in the past. Fu Negative strikes the enemy with long-range shots on the battlefield. The latter had a unit of 700 war elephants, one elephant and three people, all of whom fought in heavy armor, one of whom controlled the elephant, and the other two used spears, bows and arrows and other weapons from near and far, to attack the enemy. It's basically a complex of heavy cavalry and chariots. Moreover, the heavy elephants never attack alone, and each elephant must be accompanied by twelve infantrymen, including four heavy infantry, four rattan soldiers, and four crossbowmen. It is also the only army in the Ma Army Division that is equipped with infantry.

Yang Yan's army brought a total of 700 war elephants, including 100 artillery elephants and 600 heavily armored elephants. This time, 400 elephant troops were dispatched, all of them were elephant armies. With eighty war elephant units as a row, they were divided into five rows, spread horizontally for more than 300 steps, and rushed towards the array of the Jin army in one row.

The thick limbs stamped the earth, supporting the huge mountain-like body, coupled with the hideous and terrifying patterns deliberately decorated on the heavy armor, although the elephant army did not advance fast, but brought out a powerful oppressive momentum, which no other class of troops could match.

Wan Yan Changzhi couldn't help but secretly regret it, in fact, as early as the beginning of the Southern Expedition, he had seriously thought about the way to deal with the elephant army, and also summed up three countermeasures, the first is to use firearms, let the explosion of firearms scare the elephants, the second is to use a strong crossbow to concentrate on close shooting, the last move is to take the human pad, ten can't go to twenty, twenty can't go to thirty, in short, to win more.

But from the time Xiangyang sent troops to the present, he has been thinking about and guarding against artillery, but he has neglected other places, and is completely unprepared to deal with the firearms of the elephant army, the crossbow. Ordinary bows and arrows are basically scratching the itch for elephants in heavy armor, and using Tiefutu to fight with the elephant army is purely looking for death, and 4,000 battle Futu may not be able to defeat these 400 war elephant units. Now you can only make the last move to win more.

Therefore, Wan Yan Changzhi gritted his teeth and immediately gave the order to attack. So 15,000 of the Jin army's infantry came out of the battle and rushed forward against the war elephants.

Of course, winning with more is not really about taking people to fall upwards desperately, and Wan Yan Changzhi also spent a lot of effort in order to deal with the war elephants of the Song army. The first is to eliminate the fear caused by the soldiers' strangeness to elephants, although there are no elephants in the Jin Kingdom, but Wanyan Changzhi can let the craftsmen make several elephant models out of wooden fur, and also make a full-armor war elephant model, so that the soldiers can watch and be familiar with the appearance of elephants. In the final analysis, Jin Bing does not lack bravery, what is lacking is only the "understanding" of elephants.

When the soldiers gradually got used to seeing such behemoths, they would not be at a loss when facing war elephants on the battlefield. Therefore, in the hearts of Jin Bing, who faced the elephant army this time, the fear was far less than the freshness after seeing the real guy for the first time. On the contrary, he was even more excited, and while rushing forward, he shouted: "Rush! Rush up and take out those big stupid guys. And that's exactly what Wanyan Changzhi hopes to achieve.

The distance between the two sides gradually narrowed, and the Song army on the back of the elephant and the crossbowmen in the infantry who followed the war elephant all raised their bows and arrows in their hands, and opened their bows and arrows at the Jin army that rushed up, and the arrows shot towards the Jin army in rows, and the Jin soldiers who were hit by the arrows fell to the ground one after another.

Moreover, although the Jin soldiers who faced the elephant army were all pikemen, they were also mixed with some archers, and they also fired arrows at the Song army at this time, but they did not shoot at the elephant, but the Song army on the back of the elephant. However, the thick armor worn by the Song army on the elephant was not inferior to that of the heavy infantry, and even the face was covered with a hood, so the bow and arrow were almost useless to them, and only a few arrows happened to be shot in the crack in the armor, which caused a little damage to the Song army.

Although the shooting between the two sides was almost one-sided, it did not affect the morale of the Jin soldiers, and the other Jin soldiers still rushed forward bravely, and even began to trot forward.

After two or three rounds of fire, the two sides basically entered the area of engagement, and the war elephants and soldiers in the first two rows of the Song army put away their bows and arrows, clenched their weapons, and waited for the moment when the two armies made contact. And the soldiers in the back row also switched to projectiles, so as not to accidentally injure their comrades. And the elephant seemed to be infected by the atmosphere of the battlefield in front of him, and changed his usual gentle temperament, not only let out an excited elephant hiss, but also began to trot.

The first row of the two sides finally collided, and the manpower naturally could not be compared with the elephant, and the golden soldier who rushed up first was like hitting a thick wall, and the elephant also let out an angry hiss, and the golden soldier was either pierced by the iron vertebrae placed on the elephant's armor, or was knocked out by the elephant, and hit his companion behind him.

And the Jin army, who was lucky enough to escape the elephant's head-on impact, was not necessarily lucky, because on both sides of the elephant, a sharp blade more than three feet long stretched out, waiting for them. And even if you can dodge the blade, there are still Song soldiers on the back of the elephant and protecting the elephant on both sides.

The first row of the golden soldiers had almost no effect on the elephant's advancing speed, and quickly dissipated like light smoke in the wind. But the second row of the Jin army was immediately replenished, followed by the third row, one after the other, without the slightest concession.

At the same time, the tactics of the Jin army to deal with the elephant have also been specially rehearsed, more than a dozen Jin troops cooperate with each other, some people specifically resist the Song soldiers on both sides of the elephant, and the remaining seven or eight Jin soldiers use spears together, stabbing at the elephant's body, and pick the seams of the armor, and the elephant's legs that cannot be protected by heavy armor, or try to attack the relatively weak side of the elephant's protection.

Under such a stubborn blockade of the golden soldiers, the elephant's advance speed finally slowed down, and the elephant's legs that could not be protected by heavy armor were indeed the weakest link, although the Song soldiers on both sides of the elephant tried their best to protect the elephants, but they could not stand the golden soldiers rushing up desperately, and it was impossible to completely protect the weakness of the elephants, so many elephants' legs were injured.

In the fierce battle, there was an elephant whose two front legs were shot seven or eight times in a row, and finally could not support the huge body, and fell, and the golden soldiers immediately let out a burst of cheers, it turned out that this kind of behemoth can also be knocked down in this way, and after having one head, there will be a second head and a third head immediately......

The first row of war elephants of the Song army broke through the array of the three rows of Jin troops in a row, but they were also put down by more than ten Jin soldiers, but the Jin soldiers paid the price of more than 300 people, and the elephant army in the second row roared and rushed up to join the battle group. And the troops in the back row of the Jin soldiers also rushed up, and the two sides launched a more fierce battle.

With the weak strength of human flesh and blood against the largest animals on land, the performance of the Jin soldiers can not be described as tenacious, and they have persisted until this time, they can still maintain the formation and have not collapsed.

And this fully proves Yang Yan's belief that talent is the decisive force on the battlefield. In fact, Wanyan Changzhi has always believed in this. Therefore, the two have always become rivals who appreciate each other.