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

Chapter 154: Mounting a Horse and Crossing the River to Defeat the Mad Hu (Part )
"The reason why the Jin bandit cavalry didn't retreat is very simple." Liu Huai shook the blood off his long sword and said loudly to Zhang Baiyu, Luo Shenyan, and Wei Chang who gathered around him, "Because the Jurchen Zhuangzi was completely slaughtered, the Jurchen cavalry has become a desperate army. It's not that desperate troops will always win, but it is certain that desperate troops will be blessed."

At this time, except for Shi Qilang's 500 swordsmen and shields, all the troops in the front army had crossed the river and gathered here, preparing for a decisive battle. Naturally, the leaders of each unit gathered together.

"That's why I've been saying, don't force the enemy into a situation where they have to choose between death and battle." Liu Huai pointed to the Jurchen cavalry, who, despite being in disarray, were still diligently forming their battle formation in the northwest. "I daresay, if those two Jurchen Zhuangzi were still there, these cavalrymen wouldn't be able to gather themselves together and would have dispersed in Cangcheng."

Before he could finish his words, he heard someone behind him angrily retort, "According to the Commander-in-Chief, we men deserve to be slaves? We shouldn't resist, right?"

Everyone turned around and saw that the person who spoke was the starting point of the Jurchen Zhuangzi rebellion a few days ago, Cheng Da Niao, who was born a riding slave.

At this time, Cheng Da Niao had also put on armor and mounted a warhorse, leading ten men who were also former cavalry slaves to join the vanguard of the Loyal Army and serve as armored cavalry.

Although this man is a little thin, he has a big frame, so he looks pretty good in armor.

However, Cheng Da Niao's eyes were filled with blood at this time, but the target was not the Jurchens, but his own boss Liu Huai.

Liu Dalang simply glanced back and said, "If you have any questions, wait until the military meeting. You can speak freely then. This is wartime, and offending the commander is tantamount to disobeying orders. Considering this is your first offense, and it was only a verbal issue, I will forgive you this time. If you do it again, you will be executed without mercy."

Cheng Da Niao's face turned red from holding back his words. He wanted to say something, but when he saw the armored cavalrymen beside him with blood dripping from their weapons and armor turned back to look at him coldly, he was horrified and quickly bowed in response.

All the generals regarded this as a minor incident and did not take it seriously.

Luo Shenyan sat upright on his horse, pointing at the Jin army pouring out of the cangcheng and forming a battle array, and said, "Commander-in-Chief, the Jin army's infantry are marching out of the cangcheng and forming a battle array. Should we take advantage of this opportunity?"

Liu Huai shook his head: "No. Psychological warfare comes first, battlefield warfare comes second, and siege comes third. We've done everything we can in psychological warfare, and now we're finally able to engage in battlefield warfare. How can we force these Jin bandits back into the city? Who will be held responsible for the casualties in the siege?"

"Besides, this is Cangcheng. I'm telling you, be gentle. Don't knock, bump, or burn the things inside. How much fortune you can make depends on this wave."

The generals grinned like a strong man who had been hungry for three days and saw the fat meat.

At this time, Shi Qilang also led his army across Yishui and brought good news and bad news.

The good news is that after the battle started on the west bank of Yishui, Zhang Xiaoyi, who stayed behind, also took action, and the right army quickly deployed its battle formation.

Sure enough, when He Boqiu had already gone to battle, Cui Hema could no longer remain indifferent, both emotionally and strategically, and chose to lead the farmers to forcibly cut off the pontoon bridge.

Although the right army was of medium combat strength in the battle sequence of the Loyal Army, it was only slightly better than the left army of Dong Cheng who stayed in Haizhou and the rear army of Zhang Qing who followed Zhang Rong to attack northward.

But compared with Cui Hema, Youjun's combat effectiveness is truly at the Zenith star level.

Cui Hema wants to break through the right army's defense line? Are you kidding me?
The defense system between Yishui and Shuhe was torn to pieces, leaving only Hejiazhuang and Cuijiazhuang. Even a fool could tell that the situation was serious.

Amidst the turmoil among the people, Zhang Xiaoyi only launched a tentative attack, and Cui Hama's thousand-man army completely collapsed.

Wei Sheng's central army also took the opportunity to move forward and surrounded Hejiazhuang and Cuijiazhuang.

Seeing that his retreat was blocked, Cui Hema was completely depressed. He could only tie himself up and surrender to Wei Sheng under the persuasion of his confidants.

As for Hejiazhuang... the main force of Hejiazhuang followed He Boqiu to the west bank of Yishui. At this time, He Mancang, who was in charge of Hejiazhuang, was simply unable to fight anymore. He could only guard the manor and let Cui Hama's troops collapse.

Wei Sheng sent troops to enforce strict discipline and take over the defense of Cuijiazhuang, while leaving some troops to surround Hejiazhuang. He personally led the army to the floating bridge on the east bank of Yishui.

you could put it that way.

With the exception of Hejiazhuang, all the villages between Yishui and Shuhe were recovered. This was good news.

What about the bad news?
Zhang Xiaoyi felt that defeating Cui Hema did not show his ability, so he asked Marshal Wei for an order to cross the river to assist Liu Dalang and fight a decisive battle with the Jin thieves.

And Wei Sheng has already agreed.

Except for Liu Huai, all the generals in the front army cursed almost at the same time.

"This Zhang Xiaoyi is really not a good man. He has finished eating what is in his bowl and is looking for what is in the pot."

"Commander-in-Chief, let's just take the initiative to meet the enemy. If we're any slower, forget about the right army, the center army is coming too."

"Fuck his grandma, this is a big piece of fat meat, and they gave it to Youjun as well."

Liu Huai stopped the grumbling: "Wait for the scouts' report."

After a while, several scouts reported back at the same time, saying they had roughly figured out the deployment of the Jin army.

This was also due to the fact that the Loyal Army had just won a small victory in the conflict with the Jurchen cavalry and drove the Jurchen cavalry to the northwest side, resulting in the Loyal Army having an advantage in cavalry during this period.

"Directly facing them are two thousand fresh troops from Linyi, more than a thousand of whom are relatively well-armored, and several hundred are young and strong civilians who have clearly never seen battle. In the middle is the one carrying the banner of Pushan, which should be the leader of the bandits, Pushan Damo."

"The one on the south side is holding a large banner with the word 'He' on it. It must be He Boqiu. He has about 1,500 men."

"To the northwest are the Jurchen cavalry, currently numbering around 400. Both of those old Jurchen dogs are there."

"In addition, the central army also discovered traces of armored cavalry, but the scouts didn't reveal how many there were... well... no more than 200."

Liu Huai summarized the information, sighed, and then ordered: "Luo Dalang, Wang Wulang, you two will lead a thousand spears to form a frontal battle array!"

"Here!"

"Zhang Silang, I have two hundred and fifty armored cavalrymen assigned to you. Keep an eye on those four hundred plus Jurchen cavalrymen."

"Here!"

"Shi Qilang, Achang, the two of you will lead 500 swords and shields and 200 bows and crossbows to form up on the left wing of our army and coordinate with each other to deal with He Boqiu."

"Here!"

"Send an envoy to inform Zhang Xiaoyi that I intend for him to form a battle line on our left flank. With Generals Zhang, Shi, and Wei coordinating, we will launch an initial attack to defeat He Boqiu. I only give him two quarters of an hour. If he doesn't arrive, he won't get to eat this piece of meat!"

The military envoy bowed and left, and at this time the right army had already begun to cross the river in units of hundreds of people.

Two quarters of an hour later, Zhang Xiaoyi personally led the 600 strongest soldiers of the right army across the Yishui River, and formed a small horizontal formation with swords, shields, bows and crossbows, forming a front row of 200 archers, a second row of 600 spears, and 500 swords and shields on both wings.

Liu Huai immediately gave an order, and the horizontal formation of more than a thousand people led by Generals Zhang, Shi and Wei took the lead in attacking from the left wing and headed straight for the big flag with the word "He" on it.

(End of this chapter)