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

Chapter 339 When the fake is true, the truth is also false

Ali stared at Pang Tai's head, feeling very sad.

By the time they reached the rank of Puliyan (fifty-man captain), they had basically become the backbone of the Jin army. The extent to which various tactics could be implemented depended entirely on whether these grassroots officers could fight.

Pang Tai is the best among these Puliyans.

But who made his immediate superior Wu Saiduo and another Puliyan Zhuolu die in battle?
Who made the Jin army have the military law of beheading the whole army?
If Aligua didn't use military law to punish Pangtai at this time, do you believe that his immediate superior, Wanyan Alin, the governor of Wuping, would use Aligua's head to punish him later?

"Tell Puchalin, weren't we ambushed by the Song army? What's all the fuss about?" Aligua handed the wooden barrel containing Pang Tai's head to Puchalin's personal guard who was escorting Pang Tai to report on the battle situation. "He was right to be careful in protecting the camp and not chase them out. But he panicked and asked me for help when things got serious. That's nonsense!"

"Forty Song soldiers? How can they possibly take over your main camp?" Ali's beard stood on end as he shaved, cursing non-stop, "Tell Puchalin, if he doesn't dare, I'll give him a favor and let him go back to his hometown to raise pigs! There are plenty of people who can and dare to defend the small camp in the mountains."

The two personal guards of Pucharin looked at each other with embarrassment, took the barrel with gritted teeth, bowed, and then mounted their horses and left.

In order to survive, Pang Tai said that Wu Saiduo and Zhuolu attacked hastily but were ambushed by more than 40 Song soldiers lying in ambush on the south slope and their entire army was wiped out.

Although this did not save his head, it made Pucharin's two personal soldiers lose the desire to tell the truth.

Does that mean that ten Song soldiers killed one Mouke, one Puliyan, and nearly twenty regular soldiers of the Jin Dynasty?

If you dare to say it, someone has to believe it!

Believe it or not, Ali will immediately execute these two unlucky guys for spreading rumors and misleading the public and reporting false military intelligence!
"Jiagu Changgeng!" After watching Pucharin's two personal guards leave the camp and go up the mountain, Aligua shouted and called a Jurchen Mouke.

"The general is here!"

"Get your horses ready. If the main force of the southern barbarians attacks the small camp on the mountain, you and your Mouke will give them a good beating." Ali Gua held his belt and said, "Do you understand what I mean?"

Jiagu Changgeng bowed and said he had received the order, then went to prepare without saying anything more.

Ali Gua was patrolling the camp. After just two turns, he heard Han Feng, who was on guard in the watchtower, shout, "General, something is wrong!"

Aligua rode his horse to the foot of the watchtower, climbed up in two or three steps, and looked in the direction of northwest pointed by Han Feng with his hands on his shoulders.

It was a small mound known locally as Heshan, about a mile from Aligua and the others. Unlike Caishiji, this mound didn't face the river, so the trees on it hadn't been completely cut down like at Caishiji.

At this time, smoke and dust gradually rose from behind Heshan Mountain, and there were some horse hoof sounds, and birds roosting in the trees were startled and flew away.

Although we don’t know how many there are, there must be troops gathering behind Heshan.

Although Ali was cautious, caution did not mean cowardice. The Song army was already a mile away, and it would be unreasonable not to greet them.

Ali Gua calculated his capital. There were nearly 600 regular soldiers in the camp and nearly 200 regular soldiers on the mountain. Even if he took some risks, he could ensure safety.

In addition, Aligua has received accurate battle reports. The next morning, Wanyan Alin, the governor of Wuping and the commander of the army, will send two Meng'an vanguard troops to the Caishiji ferry. By then, even if the Song army is more powerful, the ferry camp will be safe.

Thinking of the unprecedented achievement just before his eyes, Ali's heart was filled with passion. He turned around and pointed directly at Jiagu Changgeng's troops, who were already wearing armor and preparing their horses. "Go and investigate. If they are outnumbered, retreat. If they are outnumbered, kill them. Humph... How dare you play tricks on me!"

Jiagu Changgeng raised his spear on his horse and said, "I have received the order." Then he looked around at his subordinates, roared like a tiger, opened the camp gate, and marched away with a big flag.

Han Feng curled his lips, feeling somewhat dissatisfied with Ali Gua in his heart.

In the morning he said he wanted to be cautious and didn't even send out a scout. In the afternoon, when he heard that reinforcements were coming, he released a Mouke. How can he act like a great general?

But that doesn't matter.

Based on past experience, a single Mouke could easily crush a 500-man Song army on flat ground. Even if the Song army wanted to ambush them, it would be impossible. The Song army lacked horses, so how could infantry ambush cavalry? Seeing the situation was bad, wouldn't Jiagu Changgeng just run?
Under the watchful eyes of a marching Meng'an and a marching Mouke on the watchtower, Jiagu Changgeng did not foolishly rush directly to Heshan, but circled around from the south of Heshan. Then, as if discovering an opportunity to fight, the entire army shouted and attacked the Song army behind the eastern slope of Heshan.

The hillside of Heshan blocked Ali's view, and the only sound he could hear was the shouting, the clatter of horses' hooves, and the screams, which were still clearly audible from a mile away.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the noise gradually subsided.

"I knew Jiagu Changgeng was a good man!" Ali said happily, patting the railing, "We can defeat the enemy in a moment..."

Before he finished speaking, three Jin cavalrymen escaped from the woods on the top of the mountain, looking back as they fled, with no weapons in their hands, and they were as desolate as dogs that had lost their homes, and it was clear that the morale of the army was broken.

Aligua's face froze instantly, but before he could give the order, two more Song soldiers rushed out from the woods.

Two men, one holding a long sword and the other holding a bow, caught up with the three Jin soldiers and killed them.

The Song army, armed with long swords, chopped off the head of one of the Jin soldiers, let his body ride on the horse with his head in its arms, and were about to let the horse go back to the camp.

But the one holding the bow stopped him, gestured a few times, and said something. The one holding the long sword nodded, then stripped off the armor and clothes of the Jurchen knight. Someone from behind the mountain brought a mule and put the naked headless knight holding his head on the mule.

The Song soldier holding the bow patted the mule's butt, and the mule trotted towards the Jin army camp.

The Song army holding long swords seemed to see the two Jin generals on the watchtower, raised their swords and pointed at them, with the provocation not too obvious.

Ali looked at the corpse on the mule with a dull look. When he was about a hundred steps away, he realized that it was clearly the head of Jiagu Changgeng!

"General, march out!" Han Feng roared upon seeing this: "Crush those Southern dogs!"

"Nonsense!" Aligua lashed the railing with his whip. "To be able to completely defeat Jiagu Changgeng's hundred men, there must be at least two thousand Song soldiers behind them, and there must be a lot of cavalry!"

"Then what should we do? Just wait?! Just watch?!" Han Feng was also anxious.

"Don't panic." Ali took a few deep breaths. Although he was also panicking, he absolutely could not show it in front of his men at this moment. "We can't see what's going on, but the small camp on the mountain will definitely see it clearly. Let's wait for their messenger to tell us!"

Before Aligua had finished speaking, the rumbling of horses' hooves echoed again. It was the Song cavalry, not even bothering to hide, who appeared directly before the entire Jin army. The cavalry, rolling up the winter loess, rolled up Caishiji like a long dragon.

"Two hundred cavalrymen, fortunately there are only two hundred cavalrymen." Although Han Feng saw the messenger who reported the news from the mountain was drowned in these two hundred Song cavalrymen, he felt relieved.

There are nearly two hundred Jin soldiers defending the mountain with their camp. Can they be taken down by two hundred Song soldiers?
Pucharin can’t be such a waste, right?
While this was certainly true, Han Feng couldn't help but feel something was amiss. He was so anxious he sweated profusely in the winter heat, yet despite the strict military discipline, he didn't dare remove his helmet to wipe it. Aligua felt the same way. A voice within him shouted, "Now is the time to unleash the entire army. No matter what the enemy throws at us, we must march forward in formation." This was also the Jurchen way to defeat the enemy.

But rationally, I was against it, and there were many reasons for it, such as the ferry, the floating bridge, and the possible difference in the number of people.

Two voices were shouting in his heart at the same time, each with its own reason and its own opinion, which made the veteran confused for a moment.

"I understand!" Ali Gua clapped his hands and said loudly, "Song Gou wants me to rescue the small camp on the mountain, and then the entire army will come out to besiege my main camp, leaving me unable to take care of both ends."

"So what if it is? So what if it isn't? The key is that we can't just sit here and wait!" Han Feng said anxiously, "You must know that the disaster of the three armies comes from suspicion!"

"Then we must not panic." Aligua raised his voice. "Pass on my general's order, tell everyone to put on armor and prepare. Puchalin won't be eaten by two hundred Song dogs, so it's naturally fine. It's getting dark, and those Song dogs in ambush on the opposite side can't wait forever. Sooner or later, they will give up. If they dare to show their heads on the flat ground, all our regular troops will be dispatched and crush them into mud!"

Han Feng received the order and left.

Aligua did not come down from the watchtower. He looked at Heshan, where the fighting had subsided, and then at the small camp on the hilltop, where the shouting and fighting sounds were getting louder. His heart was beating fast.

He always felt that he had overlooked something, but he frowned and thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out.

Well, now it’s time to show the truth on the tip of the knife.

In terms of bravery, who did the Great Jin warriors fear?
The so-called strategy is different from the one in the storytelling books. It does not have so many fancy things. Naturally, the simpler the better.

As the saying goes, an ambush of five hundred swordsmen with the signal of smashing cups is often not as effective as a hard blow to the back of the head.

The reason is that the illiteracy rate is too high these days. Many soldiers can't even tell the left from the right. It's ridiculous to ask them to do something independently that requires a lot of autonomy.

For example, the Jin army relied on two tactics: the "Crooked Horse and Iron Buddha." The later Mongols also employed the same three strategies: advancing like a mountain peach bush, deploying a formation like a lake, and attacking like a chisel through a hole. However, coupled with strict military discipline and rigorous rewards and punishments, they were naturally invincible.

The various battle formations used by the Song army were simply ineffective, and some civilian officials decided to win the battle from a distance, which led to the Song army's repeated defeats and collapse thousands of miles away.

To put it bluntly, Liu Huai's strategy this time was to make the Jin army's chief general Aligua mistakenly identify the Song army's decoy troops and main force, and even mistakenly identify the Song army's main attack direction, knowing both himself and the enemy.

Of course, there were some things that Liu Huai could not have predicted. For example, he did not expect that Aligua, who was so cautious, would so decisively send a cavalry of 100 people to investigate after discovering signs of suspicious troops.

What was even more unexpected was that Jiagu Changgeng, the Mouke, would be so arrogant that when he saw that the Song army had not yet formed its battle formation, he actually rushed straight towards them!
You must know that among the Song army, there were 300 armored cavalrymen of the Jingnan Army who were leading horses to support the formation.

Upon seeing this, Yu Yunwen stopped his horse and raised the big flag to show that he would never retreat. Although the Huaixi army had not even deployed their battle formation, they dared not talk of retreating. They could only bite the bullet and fight against the Jin cavalry in teams, relying on the woods and carts.

But the same thing goes, these 500 people were selected from 5,000 people, or even from the most courageous and elite people left after the great trials and tribulations in the entire Huaixi area.

We are all human beings and we all have one life. Once the Song army is fully committed from top to bottom, the Jin army will naturally not be able to gain any advantage.

After causing about fifty casualties to the Song army in the first time, Jiagu Changgeng, the Mouke, was immediately caught in an all-round and three-dimensional attack.

The Song army in the vicinity wielded spears and axes, stabbing the knights from above and hacking at the horses' legs from below. In the distance, arrows from the Divine Arm Bow and the Enemy Crossbow rained down like water.

Liu Huai immediately ordered 300 armored cavalrymen to mount their horses. While decisively ordering a charge, he still had some doubts in his mind.

Were the Jin thieves always this brave? Or was there something special about these 100 Jin soldiers?
However, after engaging in close combat, Liu Huai finally breathed a sigh of relief. These Jin thieves were indeed strong, but they were still within his understanding. They would also be injured, scream, and fall off their horses when hit by heavy weapons.

The situation on the battlefield quickly became one-sided.

All this is different from what Jiagu Changgeng thought!
Since the attack on Song Dynasty from the south, not to mention 500 people, even a thousand Song army would collapse at the first charge, and then panic and leave their backs to him.

Jiagu Changgeng never thought that the Song army would dare to fight back like this!

As the cavalry of the two armies engaged in a melee, the archers of the Song army, who were relying on the terrain to shoot, also put down their bows and crossbows and joined the battle with long weapons and short hammers in hand.

These Song troops were often divided into teams of five to ten people. They would first drag the Jin soldiers who had lost their mobility off their horses, then hold down the Jin cavalry's hands and feet, or stab them through the gaps in their armor with short knives or daggers, or simply take out short hammers and smash the Jin army's heavily armored cavalry with them, causing them to bleed from all seven orifices.

The Song army's cavalry was even more formidable, especially the majestic Song knight in the lead, who struck left and right with his long sword, and no one could match him!
Watching this mighty Song soldier, accompanied by eight or nine others, slaughter his own men with ease, and advancing towards him, Jiagu Changgeng felt a sudden surge of fear. The fear quickly spread to his body. He swung his spear, knocking down a Song spearman. Then, his arms ached, and he lost his strength, causing the spear to slip out of his hand.

Chang Geng, who had left Jiagu at the same time as Chang Qiang, seemed to still have the courage to face the enemy. He looked back at his few remaining subordinates, thinking that he must return to report the truth to Ali Gua.

After finding a plausible excuse for himself, Jiagu Changgeng no longer cared about anything else and took advantage of a gap in the Song army's encirclement from the west to escape.

"Brother Xiaoyi, kill them! Don't let anyone escape!" Liu Huai naturally knew the pros and cons, and quickly gave the order loudly.

In fact, there was no need for him to explain this. After Jiagu Changgeng escaped, the Jin army, which had suffered huge casualties for no apparent reason, finally collapsed. Except for seven or eight light cavalry patrolling on the periphery, the remaining twenty or so Jin soldiers who were surrounded by the Song army surrendered one after another.

After stripping off their armor and tying them up, Yu Yunwen gave an order and more than 20 surrendered soldiers were beheaded by the Song army.

The seven or eight light cavalrymen who fled in all directions were also killed by the Jingnan Army who were chasing them.

From beginning to end, it took no more than a quarter of an hour.

"This... we have won already?" Commander Dai Gao asked in disbelief, his hands trembling slightly.

"I won, I finally won once..." Wang Qi looked at the pile of Jin army heads on the ground whose military merits were being recorded by military judges, and he actually felt absurd.

The Jin army was not invincible.

If that's the case, why did you run away in the first place?

Before the Song army could taste the victory, Liu Huai had already gathered the armored cavalry of the Jingnan Army.

After briefly explaining some matters, Liu Huai left behind one hundred armored cavalrymen of the Jingnan Army to cooperate with the Huaixi Army and continue to act as a decoy behind Heshan.

The two hundred armored cavalrymen of the Jingnan Army, whose blood was still boiling, picked up supplies and, under the leadership of Liu Huai, rushed directly towards the Caishiji camp.

(End of this chapter)