Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 134: Embarrassed and Unable to Retreat

After the night raid lasted for three hours on August 11, the command systems of both sides failed completely and the situation quickly degenerated into a melee.

The reason is self-evident: when the fuel ran out, both the Jin and Tianping armies were plunged into darkness. This had nothing to do with fatigue or fear; it was purely insurmountable objective conditions that were the most fatal.

Several main generals of the Jin army in Yizhou obviously had a plan in mind. After defeating Geng Jing's Tianwang Army and seizing the Tianping Army's flag, they returned in an orderly manner and assembled in two villages facing each other across the river, two miles south of the Xinzi Army camp.

This place probably has some kind of fishing port nature, so an artificial dike was built. The river channel is relatively narrow, and there are more than a dozen well-preserved fishing boats, enough to build a small floating bridge.

The Jin army in Yizhou recuperated here, gathered their troops, and waited for dawn to attack again. They first captured the camp on the east bank with the big flag with the character "X" on it, and then pursued the enemy northward, annihilating the Tianping army in one fell swoop.

If the Xin army wanted to escape under the cover of night, it would play right into Pushandharma's hands.

Because it is not so easy to transfer the defeated army in the dark. The Xinzi Army, the Rulin Army and the miscellaneous defeated troops totaled nearly 8,000 people. If there were still 500 people left after escaping for one night, it would be considered that Xin Qiji had strict military discipline.

By then, the Yizhou army wouldn't even need to fight a hard battle, and nearly two thousand cavalrymen could just chase them directly.

This kind of battle was the most common one fought when the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Northern Song Dynasty. Everywhere you looked, you saw the backs of heads. They were very familiar with it.

The Jin army in Yizhou was well aware of this.

But Xin Qiji and Li Tieqiang, who were already extremely depressed, had no time to think so much.

"Withdraw? How can we withdraw now? Do you know what will happen if we show our backs to the Jin thieves now?"

Liu Huai, covered in blood, almost lost his composure and yelled in the tent filled with the stench of blood and sweat.

More than ten generals from various armies, including Generals Xin and Li, were gathered in this big tent. They were silent, perhaps out of fatigue or frustration.

After a long moment, Li Tieqiang said dejectedly, "It's not like we haven't been defeated before, so how could we not know? We're just escaping in scattered groups, struggling to survive, and we're counting the lives we can save."

Liu Huai ignored the fact that he was just an envoy, not even a guest general, and said sternly, "Big Iron Spear, let me ask you, which one is more likely to survive if the camp holds out, or if they flee?"

Yelu Xingge, finally putting on his coat, said coldly, "Of course, if we scatter, our chances of survival are greater. Didn't Chief Geng, Xin Wulang, and Da Tieqiang all escape from Dongping Prefecture? These leaders have plenty of fast horses. As long as they're ruthless enough to abandon their comrades, there's no way they can't escape."

The rest of the people looked at the Hu man sideways. How could they not understand that Yelu Xingge was making sarcastic remarks?
Because except for him, the lowest-level subordinates among the generals present were all small soldiers. In this day and age, if you raise the recruitment flag, there will be people to eat the food.

To put it bluntly, as long as the core one or two hundred people are not lost, we will be able to make a comeback sooner or later.

But Yelu Xingge was different. He led the Khitan tribe, and the grassroots he relied on were not only soldiers, but also the people of the tribe.

Everyone can abandon the lower class, except Yelu Xingge.

But the facts are the facts, this Hu'er's words are too direct and too harsh.

Zhang Anguo simply stood up and yelled, "Who are you calling a coward?!"

Yelu Xingge slapped his thigh and stood up with a ferocious look on his face: "Grandpa is going to stay and guard this camp anyway, do you, Zhang Laoqi, dare to stay?"

Zhang Anguo's face suddenly changed: "My Jiedu hasn't been found yet, please excuse me!"

After saying that, this guy actually made a gesture to leave.

This was the key point. Theoretically, Geng Jing, the supreme commander of the Tianping Army, had not been heard from until now, so troops should have been dispatched to search for him.

But no matter who it was, no one dared to send out a large force, for fear that the troops would leave the camp and scatter without control, leading to the collapse of morale in the camp.

Liu Huai's face twitched. He really didn't want to appear too strong, but he really couldn't bear to watch the Tianping Army, such a large anti-Jin force in Shandong, collapse before his eyes.

So at this moment, even in the big tent where many officers gathered, even though he was just a messenger, Liu Huai still took a step towards Zhang Anguo with his sword in hand.

Zhang Anguo felt as if he was being stared at by Shan Zhongjun. His whole body trembled violently, he stopped, turned around and stared at Liu Huai, also holding his knife and becoming alert.

Seeing that the two were about to fight, Xin Qiji, who had been keeping his head down and silent, took action.

He first snatched Zhang Anguo's sword, and then slapped him in the face.

This powerful punch knocked Zhang Anguo to the ground.

"Zhang Qi, if you really care about the governor, you should think about saving some capital for him here!" Xin Qi shouted sharply, his eyes sweeping across the generals in the tent. "Can you just abandon the Heavenly King's Army? If you abandon the Heavenly King's Army, even if you find the governor, what will you use to stop the Jin bandits' armored cavalry? We will hold our ground here. As long as the governor reaches the north of the camp, he will be safe!"

"Anyone who dares to talk about retreat will be considered a criminal who abandons the governor and the entire army. They must first pass this test of mine, Xin Wu!"

There was silence in the tent for a moment.

These generals understood at the same time that the big blue rhinoceros had been aroused, and if it really wanted to escape, a fight would probably be unavoidable.

Liu Huai stepped forward at the right moment, standing shoulder to shoulder with Xin Qiji. He wiped a trace of blood from his armor with his finger and smeared it on his forehead. "Men, as the commander of the front line of the Loyal Army, I swear that if we defend the camp today and are still defeated, I will die first! If the camp is not broken and any of you flee first, then as long as I survive, I will hunt this beast down, no matter where I am!"

The generals of the Tianping Army were startled again, and even Zhang Anguo, who had already climbed up, covered his face and dared not speak again.

Baiju, the commander of the third formation on the east bank, clutched his thigh and said in a somewhat embarrassed tone, "Liu Dalang, it's not just us who want to escape, nor is it just our Baiju Army. Everyone wants to escape, even Xin Wulang's Xinzi Army. Even if you convince us generals, can you convince these nearly ten thousand people?"

Liu Huai took a deep breath. "Of course I can't convince everyone, but together we can convince the captains, lieutenant commanders, captains, captains, and squad leaders, let them know these principles, and then they can control their subordinates."

All the generals were helpless. After all, they were reluctant to give up the troops they had trained with great effort and the property they had accumulated, so they each looked for their subordinates and tried to gather them together.

Something went wrong during this period. For some unknown reason, a cousin of General Ye Shichan came here. Although he did not say a word during the military meeting in the big tent, he wanted to escape after leaving the tent under the pretext of summoning his subordinates. However, Xin Qiji saw through his plan early on and captured him.

Originally, Xin Qiji wanted to scold him a few words, but Liu Huai simply raised his knife and chopped off the fleeing general's head.

"This is what happens to people who run away!"

Liu Huai grabbed the head of the Ye family elder, who was unknown to him, and turned to the others with a fierce grin, saying, "If I catch the escapee, I will kill him. If he is caught by the Jin bandits, the Jin bandits will kill him. Since we are all going to die, why not fight the Jin bandits?!"

The generals of the Tianping Army were completely speechless facing Liu Huai, who had overstepped his bounds countless times tonight. With a feeling of awe and desperation, they tried their best to gather as many grassroots officers as possible and gathered them beside a small hill in the camp.

The main generals climbed up the hill one after another and lit torches to illuminate the surroundings as clearly as possible.

Everyone focused their attention on Liu Huai.

Whether it is a mule or a horse depends on Liu Dalang's mouth.

(End of this chapter)