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

Chapter 304: Yishui City Falls and Wuxing Is Coming

Of course, it would be nonsense to say that Ature's killing of Zhang Jueming had no effect at all.

Because if Zhang Jueming had not died, when he saw the Loyal Army's massive attack on the city, he would not have directly started an uprising, but would have taken the Fourth Meng'an to build a stronghold to defend himself.

But at this time, the Fourth Meng'an and his men did not know that Zhang Jueming was dead. Without a leader, they still followed Meng Tian's military order to defend the country and went to the top of the city to prepare for battle.

Liang Yuaner has already discovered that something is wrong, because no matter which side delivered the military order, the military envoy has ever seen Zhang Jueming. But in his opinion, the worst possibility is that Zhang Jueming was detained. The commander-in-chief killed Yi Jun Meng'an for no reason. Isn't he afraid that the morale of the army will be destroyed?

By noon, the Loyal Army had roughly completed the encirclement. Under the command of Wei Sheng, they began to use their old tactics of psychological warfare again. The Jin soldiers captured last night were tied up and dragged to the foot of the city to be beheaded. Cavalrymen also ran back and forth under the city carrying captured flags to show them to the defenders on the city walls.

This naturally caused panic among the defenders.

This was not the end. More soldiers brought the surrendered Jurchen prisoners and shouted at the foot of the city, which was nothing more than a series of clichés such as surrender and spare life.

At first, the Jin army defending the city was a little bit unconvinced. However, after seeing the captives who surrendered during the defeat in Yishui being dragged out for parade, some of them finally began to waver and kept looking up at their superiors.

At this time, the choices of grassroots officers such as Xingjun Mouke are either to curse back or to shoot arrows to drive away the harassers, so as not to let the enemy continue to disrupt their own military morale.

But these officers were also defeated generals. Seeing that they were surrounded by an iron barrel, they were all in a panic. It was considered a strong quality that they had the mind to prepare the gold juice rolling logs to defend the city step by step. How could they have the mind to think about the morale of the army?

Panic spread like a plague among the Wuxing Army.

After this set of orderly and dazzling military moves was performed, not only did the morale of the Loyal Army itself rise, but even the commanders of the other armies who were watching coldly from the sidelines were stunned.

Wang Youzhi of the Tianxiong Army swallowed his saliva and turned to Geng Jing and said, "Captain Geng, has the Loyalty Army always been so powerful?"

Geng Jing now completely understood how effective the military organization Liu Huai had described was. He was now beside Wei Sheng and could clearly see that every military order issued by Wei Sheng was written down by the military staff and copied into books according to different categories. Military envoys kept going back and forth to inform Wei Sheng of the progress of the various armies, and after receiving new orders from Wei Sheng, they returned to their respective armies to deliver them.

The entire Loyal Army... even including Xin Qiji's 3,000 soldiers of the Tianping Army, were all like a huge machine. Although the gears were extremely precise, they ran in an orderly manner.

It only took one morning to complete the initial construction of the siege camp from sending troops to siege the city. To Geng Jing, this was like a myth.

"This is also the first time I've seen the Loyalty Army attacking a city." At this moment, Geng Jing could only say this to his new vassal: "But after all, they were able to defeat an entire Jin army. There must be some explanation. How could it be some silver-shafted wax spear?"

Wang Youzhi had seen it all before. To be more precise, he had led tens of thousands of ragtag armies in battle and endured brutal beatings from the Jin Empire's regular army. Seeing the Loyal Army attacking the city, he couldn't help but sigh and say, "If we had a powerful army like this, we wouldn't need many men, 200,000 would be enough. Then the north would be easily conquered."

Geng Jing chuckled after hearing this and patted Wang Youzhi on the shoulder: "Brother Wang, although I don't have a 100,000-man army, I have trained 10,000 troops according to the rules of the Loyal Army. Even if I can't recover the North, I can still fight that fellow Shizhan Xieye."

Wang Youzhi bowed and said, "Captain Geng is a hero of unparalleled stature, so he's not afraid of a small, insignificant Shizhan Xie. We in the Tianxiong Army are also heroes. Although we've suffered a setback, we're still able to fight."

The two men flattered each other for a while, but when they saw that the generals around them did not respond and instead turned their gazes towards the top of the Yishui County city wall, they both felt a little bored and stopped talking at the same time.

Zhang Rong and Li Bao were naturally in no mood to flatter each other, but these two loyal ministers of the Song Dynasty also had solemn expressions.

Especially when Wang Youzhi said that with an army of 200,000, they could recover the North, the two of them couldn't help but look at each other. Then they turned their eyes to Wei Sheng, who was holding the command flag and giving orders.

Power will alienate people and cultivate ambitions. Wei Sheng can now train an army of tens of thousands of people. As long as he accumulates for a few more years, he will be able to train an elite army of tens of thousands of such people.

At that time, would Wei Sheng still be loyal to the Song Dynasty?
If I am unable to be loyal to the Song Dynasty, will the Song Dynasty send troops to attack me?

The two men quickly became entangled, but after a moment, the two veterans who never forgot the political struggle put these miscellaneous thoughts behind them, because the siege of the loyal army officially began.

Different from Wei Sheng's defensive counterattack and planned-after-action tactics, this time he ordered the soldiers to carry ladders and push battering rams and began a siege from all sides.

It should be said that Wei Sheng chose the right timing.

Just when the Wuxing Army was beginning to be suspicious from top to bottom and the officers had failed to encourage the troops, they encountered a determined and fierce attack from the Zhongyi Army.

The county seat of Yishui was immediately in danger.

However, Meng Tian was no pushover after all. He led his personal guards to charge forward and ran back and forth on the city wall to boost morale.

The several attacks of the Loyal Army were actually all pushed back.

This lasted for two hours, with many casualties on both sides, but the city walls were still not breached.

As for the goose carts pushed to the foot of the city, they were also set on fire after Wuxing's army repeatedly threw torches and kerosene.

The loyal soldiers under the goose carts almost turned into fire men at the same time, and the few who escaped were shot to death by arrows because they were too close to the city.

The stalemate lasted for an hour. After suppressing another round of offensive by the Loyal Army, Meng Tian, who was guarding the country, looked at the sun and actually felt that he could hold on for today.

However, what he didn't know was that today's siege was three of which were feints, and the real main attack was at the water gate in the west of the city.

This place is close to Yishui River, and there is a canal that leads from Yishui River. Due to the developed commerce, there are many houses. Even though many of them have been demolished, they have not been completely demolished.

But even so, it is difficult to deploy troops here and it is difficult to use it as a gathering place for large-scale troops. Therefore, even if there are loyal army ships cruising on the Yishui River, there are only two Mouke soldiers on the city wall.

"If the pirates bring their boats in, we'll fire rockets." The marching commander of the main army shouted, "Don't panic. We're in a commanding position, and the pirates will panic even more. As long as we set their boats on fire, these pirates won't be a big deal."

As he spoke, he looked at Dian Lun again: "A Dian, dozens of you are going into battle for the first time, so it's normal to be afraid, but you must not retreat. Even if I can spare you when the time comes, the knife in my hand will never spare you!"

Faced with the intimidation, Dian Lun just nodded. Just as he was about to say something, he saw out of the corner of his eye that in the ruins below the city, there was a red silk cloth quietly hanging on the chimney. It seemed that it had been there for a long time and was inconspicuous.

Dian Lun paused briefly before smiling at the marching officer, "General, you're right. My job here is easy, after all. As long as I'm careful and cautious, and maintain a commanding position, even a mere bandit can be easily defeated." The marching officer was surprised by Dian Lun's generosity. Even he, a regular army officer, found the situation difficult, yet this fellow could still smile. However, the army's morale must be boosted, not weakened. The marching officer quickly nodded and said, "That's right. The two of us can..."

Halfway through his speech, the marching military officer suddenly noticed that Dian Lun was looking at the city wall behind him with an incredulous look, as if he had seen a ghost, and he couldn't help but look back in horror.

In fact, it has been proven that it doesn’t matter whether the trick is new or old, as long as it works.

At the moment when the marching Mouke turned his head, Dian Lun drew a dagger from his waist and stabbed it into the opponent's neck.

Under the incredulous gaze of the marching cavalry, Dian Lun swung his sword and killed another Jin soldier, shouting loudly: "Kill the Jin thieves!"

"kill!"

Xiemao Zhanggu, who had been prepared, sneered, bent his bow and drew his arrow, then shot out seven or eight arrows at close range in a continuous stream.

Although the Jin army was wearing armor, they did not put down their armor at this time. The arrows hit them directly in the face without missing a single one.

Screams and shouts of killing suddenly rang out.

Although Dian Lun's men were originally a gang of dung collectors who only knew how to fight bravely on the streets, they were caught off guard by the sudden attack. Even with their armor protecting them, they could not withstand the daggers that penetrated through the gaps in their armor and were stabbed to the ground one after another.

Seeing the chaos on the city walls, Xin Qiji, who had been hiding among the ruins, suddenly stood up and swung his heavy sword: "Follow me and kill!"

As he spoke, he carried the ladder and rushed towards the city wall.

The first batch of Tianping soldiers, numbering about 200, gave earth-shaking shouts and also carried simple siege equipment and set them up on the city wall.

Further away, nearly a thousand Tianping soldiers rode on mules and horses and swarmed in, forming the second formation and waiting at the corner gate.

Xin Qiji climbed up the ladder and reached the top of the city wall. With a swish, he drew out two heavy swords, which rolled forward along the top of the city wall like a dark cloud.

"The one wearing armor is a Jin thief!" Dian Lun and others had already fallen into a disadvantage, and now they saw a powerful general coming to help. They were overjoyed, but they were also worried that the other party could not distinguish between friend and foe, so they shouted loudly.

Xin Qiji's two swords were heavy, like two steel whips, sweeping across the armor of the Jin army, just like a blunt weapon hitting their bodies. In just a moment, the four armored soldiers who came to besiege were all knocked off the city wall.

"Pan Huaihua, form a battle line and clear the city walls." After the fighting stabilized slightly and more and more Tianping soldiers jumped onto the city walls, Xin Qiji shouted the order and then looked at Dianlun: "Take us to seize the city gate!"

Dian Lun looked at the murderous Xin Qiji and felt uneasy. He nodded hurriedly and led Xin Qiji and more than ten other soldiers down the city wall to seize the corner gate next to the water gate.

But in just a moment, under Li Tieqiang's expectant eyes, the corner gate opened and more than a thousand Taiping soldiers swarmed in.

"Kill the golden dog!"

The deafening shouts of killing echoed throughout Yishui County. The Jin army was horrified. When they looked back and saw that the "Tianping" flag had already entered the city, they realized that the city gate had been broken and their fighting spirit was immediately dampened.

The first to collapse were the Fourth Meng'an at the East Gate. They had been in a panic for a long time, and no one knew where Zhang Jueming, the leader, had escaped to. There was no one who could control the situation.

Before, they had just been fighting blindly out of habit, and the situation on the city wall had long been precarious. Now that the city was broken, only less than two hundred people, under the command of Liang Yuaner, shouted "rebellion" and went down the city wall to fight for the city gate, while the rest of the people simply fled.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Meng Tian, the state guardian, sighed, left the big flag in place, led Atu'er, Zhuo Tuoan and others away, walked to a small courtyard under the city wall, led the prepared war horses, and prepared to leave in the chaos.

However, as soon as they got off the city wall, they ran into more than 20 armored cavalry led by Xin Qiji.

Xin Qiji came here just to capture the Wuxing flag, and was thinking of showing off in front of all the heroes in Shandong and taking the credit for capturing the flag.

However, upon seeing these Wuxing Army officers, Xin Qiji burst into laughter: "It's fate that you've fallen into my hands. Remember this, when you get to the underworld, don't forget to tell the King of Hell that the one who killed you was Xin Qiji from Jinan Prefecture!"

After saying this loudly, Xin Qiji swung his heavy sword and said, "Kill!"

The Tianping Army soldiers pounced on them like wolves and tigers.

At this time, Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, finally regained his inner bravery. He pushed away Atu'er who wanted to protect him behind him and drew his sword forward.

The two sides collided with each other with a loud bang.

In a moment, Xin Qiji held up a head and shouted loudly: "The Jin thief general has been beheaded by me!"

"it is good!"

"kill!"

"Kill the golden dog!"

The gates of Yishui County were opened, and soldiers and cavalry poured in. Soon after, the "Wuxing" flag on the top of the city was torn down, and the "Zhongyi" flag was erected high on the city wall.

On the afternoon of October 17, the Wuxing Army, one of the 32 regular armies of the Jin Dynasty, was completely wiped out. Commander-in-Chief Meng Tian and ten of his men were executed, and countless amounts of money, food, armor, and weapons were seized.

Yishui County was liberated.

At this point, the Shandong rebel army finally turned its attention to the core of the Jin Dynasty's rule in Shandong, the headquarters of the Shandong Military Command, Yidu Prefecture.

(End of this chapter)