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

Chapter 194 Whipping the Iron Cavalry and Driving the Thunder

This battle could not be considered an ambush for the Wuxing Army. To be precise, it should be considered a surprise attack.

Relying on the speed of cavalry and with the support of accurate intelligence, suddenly appearing in an unexpected place at an unexpected time for the enemy is itself one of the cavalry's combat methods.

Of course, since they had chosen a surprise attack, they were definitely going to risk everything. The saying, "Once the arrow is shot, there's no turning back," is exactly what it means.

Fortunately, more than 20 miles is still a relatively short range for cavalry to project troops, so before it was completely dark, the vanguard of the Jin army had already started fighting with the Loyal Army.

This is also because Tu Danzhang intentionally controlled the speed to save horsepower.

The reason why he chose the time when it was about to get dark was because he had extreme confidence in the combat effectiveness of his armored cavalry and the abilities of his officers.

The night is fair, but also unfair, because when the command system is greatly weakened, anyone's cowardice will be infinitely magnified, triggering a chain reaction.

I, an elite soldier who has fought many battles, dare to fight bravely when I am isolated and surrounded by enemies. Do you, a half-bandit and half-soldier, dare to do the same?
Moreover, at this point in time, according to Tu Danzhang's calculations, the camp of the Loyal Army should have just been set up but not yet completed. It was just when the defense was the weakest, and it was just right to break through in one fell swoop.

"Report!" A scout came galloping over. "General! My Wanyan Mouke is engaged in battle with the enemy army. They haven't set up camp or dug trenches, they've only surrounded them with baggage carts!"

"Great!" Tu Shanzhang was overjoyed and said to the person beside him, "Zhu San, your plan is really brilliant. You can swallow up 500 cavalry so easily! You should be rewarded!"

Zhu Tianshou was sweating profusely and seemed about to say something polite, but Tu Shanzhang ignored him and instead ordered the scouts, "Go back and tell Wanyan Mougui not to attack forcefully, but to bypass the camp and cut off the enemy's retreat. If the enemy tries to escape, he will have to chase them all the way.

Don't worry about the lack of troops, I'll let Nahegeng and Baguliangsun help him!"

The scout bowed on his horse, said he had received the order, and rode away.

Tu Shanzhang had advanced no more than a hundred steps with his large Meng'an flag painted with a Saker Falcon when another scout came to report.

"General, we've already scouted. About five or six hundred oxen and horses are all surrounded by the carts!" The scout panted heavily, bowed, and pointed to a small hill in front of him. "We just came down from that hill. There were enemy scouts there. As soon as we got there, we were met with a fierce battle. Although we didn't capture the hilltop, we did get a glimpse of the enemy's formation!"

Tu Danzhang nodded slightly.

This is consistent with his speculation about the combat effectiveness of the Loyal Army. They are somewhat capable and stronger than ordinary militias and bandit armies. Their various systems are also quite comprehensive, but they are definitely not as good as the average level of the Wuxing Army.

Not to mention the first Meng'an led by Tu Danzhang, the first general.

The Jin Dynasty was founded on cavalry, so the core warriors in each army were armored cavalry. However, even with Wanyan Liang's level of land-scaling, he could not afford to support hundreds of thousands of armored cavalry.

Take the Wuxing Army as an example. As the above-average combat force among the 32 armies of the Jin Dynasty, it was organized according to the Meng'an and Mouke system at the founding of the Jin Dynasty. One marching Wanhu led ten Meng'an, each Meng'an had ten Mouke, and one Mouke had one hundred combat soldiers.

But that's theoretical.

In practice, each Meng'an of the Wuxing Army had only four or five cavalrymen on average, and the rest were all Han infantrymen.

The few Meng'an at the rear even had only three or four cavalrymen, and a large part of them were light cavalry wearing only iron crotch armor.

But Tu Danzhang, who was the pioneer, was different. The Meng'an he led were absolutely the elite of the entire army. The ten Mouke were all elite armored cavalry who could fight, charge and run. He was the pioneer on weekdays, the one who took on tough tasks, and the one who covered the rear during the retreat.

The first Meng'an killed the most people, was treated the best, and fought the most fiercely.

Of course, this configuration of troops wasn't unique to Meng Tian, but rather a common practice during the reign of Wanyan Liang. For example, Wanyan Yuanyi, the current Minister of War of the Jin Dynasty, also served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Weisheng Army. The First Meng'an of that army was organized in this way, while the First General was Wanyan Yuanyi's own son, Wanyan Wangxiang.

With such a strong army at hand, Tu Shanzhang dared to seize the opportunity and raid the 500 loyal soldiers with 600 cavalrymen. He was not being overconfident.

After walking a few hundred steps again, Tu Shanzhang finally saw the hastily built camp of the Loyal Army.

The garrison chosen by the Loyal Army seemed to be leaning against a hill, or it seemed that they wanted to camp directly on the hill, but they were thrown into disarray by Tu Danzhang's surprise attack and could only lean against the hill to resist.

And the chariot formations deployed by the Loyalty Army...

To say that the chariot formation was an honor to them was a sign of their strength, but at best it was just a group of large chariots scattered around in a circle to delay Wu Xing's army.

Tu Danzhang even saw with his own eyes that a small group of people had dismounted and rushed to the front of the chariot formation, trying to move the chariots, but because someone in the inner circle of the chariots was stabbing with spears, and because there were still many sacks of food and grass on the baggage carts, they were forced to retreat for a while.

Tu Danzhang looked at the dusty battlefield with a sneer on his face.

This loyal thief truly deserves the name of a thief. Although he can be considered an army, he is still full of banditry at the critical moment and dares not fight like the regular army.

As armored cavalry, you should move at this time and rush out to fight. How can you defend yourself?
Isn't this just waiting for death?
"Pass on my orders." Seeing that Wanyan Mougui's Mouke banner had bypassed the chariot formation and reached the southern flank of the Loyalty Army, Tushan Zhang said to the military envoy beside him, "Wanyan Mougui and his Mouke are patrolling the southern flank and are not allowed to participate in the battle! However, if the enemy army collapses, he must intercept them from the south!"

"Send a message to Na Hegeng and Ba Guliangsun. They should use bows and arrows to harass the chariot formation. When Meng'an's flag is raised, they can follow behind and charge into close combat."

"Send a message to Jia Guyuan. I'll give him a quarter of an hour. Have his mouke use the grappling hooks and lassoes to pry open a gap in the enemy's chariot formation for me! Open it wide enough for me to rush in!"

"Send a message to Shi Dunzhang and Shi Lalie, have them line up behind me. Once I start the charge, they must follow Meng'an's banner and charge forward together!"

After saying this, Tu Shanzhang waved his hand and led a dozen of his personal guards down the hill. He left a final word: "Zhu San, there is no need for you to charge into battle today. You stay here and watch how our Jurchen men defeat the enemy!"

Zhu Tianshou swallowed a mouthful of saliva and felt his mouth was dry. He led several farmhands to rein in their horses and stop, but he couldn't even utter a word of courtesy or flattery.

Under Tu Danzhang's command, six hundred armored cavalry moved forward.

For a moment, dust was flying, flags were fluttering, horses' hooves were rumbling, armor was clanging, arrows were like locusts, and warriors were like bears and tigers.

The Wuxing Army swept through all of this and surrounded the Zhongyi Army's chariot formation.

From Zhu Tianshou's perspective, this scene was really like a flood carrying thousands of tons of boulders, crushing all the trees, houses, people and animals along the way, and pushing along the official road.

Whether it was the ordinary soldiers of the Loyal Army who were trying to stop a chariot with a mantis arm, or Guan Qilang who I met a few days ago and whose name I didn't even know, or Liu Feihu who liked to speak big words, they would all be crushed into powder in this torrent.

Thinking of Liu Huai, Zhu Tianshou felt happy but also inexplicably sad.

Alas, what a good man he is. If he doesn't want to divide his own land, what's the harm in going with this Feihuzi for a while?
Now, I can only collect his body to repay the kindness we showed each other that day.

After his thoughts drifted for about two quarters of an hour, Zhu Tianshou focused his eyes again, only to find that something seemed wrong with the scene on the battlefield.

　A colleague asked me why I lent her my computer yesterday. I told her the whole story and was met with merciless ridicule.

　　Turn grief into strength, damn those white-clad scholars!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)