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

Chapter 341: The Three or Four Sounds of the Horn at the Besieged City

"This is the signal!" Zhang Baiyu stood up immediately after hearing the horn, kicked open the secret door in front of him, and without hiding his body, rushed in with a sword and shield.

"Kill the bandits!" Twenty fierce soldiers also spit out the gags in their mouths and roared loudly at the same time. The first thing they did after rushing out of the secret passage and coming to the wide side courtyard was to form a formation and kill the Jin army from behind.

At the same time, Liu Huai couldn't believe his eyes.

He never expected that the Jin army would actually tear down the wall of their own camp and create a thoroughfare. The obstacles that originally required ladders and hooks to pass through disappeared in an instant.

Liu Huai originally thought that the Jin army had built a shoddy project, but after seeing the Jin army also mounted their horses and lined up in battle formation through the billowing smoke and dust, he finally came to his senses.

So you guys are still so arrogant?!
I have killed so many of your comrades right under your noses, but you still dare to come out and fight recklessly. Have you always been so brave?
Of course, for Pucharin, this was a decision he had to make, because the feeling of slow death was too painful, so it was better to fight to the death.

There was still a chance of victory, because in order to fight against the Jin army on the wall, the armored cavalry of the Jingnan Army were running back and forth, and their organization was already somewhat disorganized, making it difficult to gather them together. If the Jin army could seize this opportunity, it would not be impossible for them to disperse the Jingnan Army.

But Liu Huai was also a master at seizing opportunities in battle. After vaguely seeing the Jin army's armored cavalry behind the smoke and dust, he immediately ordered his soldiers to blow the horn to launch a general attack. At the same time, he raised the Flying Tiger flag, took the lead, and rushed directly into the camp with himself and the flag as a guide.

It should be said that this was a very risky move. If the Jin army set up some barricades and caltrops inside, Liu Huai might have died here.

But after all, the Jin army pushed down the courtyard wall in order to make tactical space for the cavalry charge. Why would they put some obstacles in the middle?
Liu Huai crossed the camp wall almost unhindered, and with more than ten personal guards, he rushed into the Jin army's formation like a sharp knife.

Regardless of whether the rest of the Jingnan Army's armored cavalry had received orders from their officers or not, seeing that their commander had already entered the battle line, they also followed suit and rushed into the Jin Army camp. More than 300 cavalrymen instantly squeezed the small camp into a can of sardines.

At this point, there was actually no longer any tactics or martial arts to speak of. Both sides even gave up their spears and other swift weapons, and picked up melon hammers and bronze maces to smash each other.

The battle entered a white-hot stage almost from the beginning. Both sides were wearing heavy armor and were elite cavalry. Everyone fought bravely and started the battle with their lives in exchange. The armor could defend against one or two blows from blunt objects, but it could not defend against the heavy weapons that rained down from all directions, just like when they were besieging the Wuxing Army's First Meng'an. Those who were knocked off their horses would at best suffer severe fractures.

If the situation continued to develop in this way, even if the Jingnan Army eliminated these more than one hundred Jin cavalry, it would inevitably pay a huge price. However, when Zhang Baiyu led twenty elite soldiers to attack the Jin army from behind, everything changed.

After losing their mobility, the cavalry's combat capability was much worse than that of the infantry. Moreover, the Jin army was still facing Liu Huai's fierce attack and for a while did not realize that the enemy was coming behind them.

Zhang Baiyu kicked open the back door of the main courtyard and saw a plump back of the head. He couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Be smart, the commander-in-chief is personally pulling back the bandits for us. It's time for us to make achievements!"

"Kill the thief!"

The twenty infantrymen seemed very small in the melee of more than three hundred armored cavalry, but they were very flexible. After forming a formation in twos and threes, they killed the knights above and chopped the horses' legs below. They were invincible and soon killed more than a dozen Jin soldiers in the rear on the spot.

More importantly, Zhang Baiyu's appearance put the Jin army in a pincer attack. When the Jin army realized this, their morale, which had been able to hold up, instantly dropped.

At the same time, under the pressure of the relatively strong military force in the front, one of the formations finally collapsed. Liu Huai and more than ten personal guards followed the gap and charged straight in. In this camp, they divided the Jin army's armored cavalry into two parts that were difficult to respond to.

Seeing that the Jin army's demise was entering the countdown, the marching commander Puchalin who was stationed here also fell into deep regret.

As the commander-in-chief, he did not lead the armored cavalry to fight the Jingnan Army head-on.

After commanding his subordinates to pull down the courtyard wall and open the camp gate, Pucharin was separated by the invading Jingnan Army at the courtyard wall. He then watched in amazement as the Jingnan Army launched an attack on the Jin Army with a desperate courage.

Pucharin's heart was already filled with regret and unwillingness. He didn't understand why he made such a stupid mistake, nor did he understand why the Jingnan Army was so good at seizing opportunities. He didn't understand why this group of Song soldiers who had been chased all the way suddenly had such a strong fighting will.

But Pucharin knew that he could at least do one thing, that is, to participate in this Shura field like a real soldier, either to kill all the Song army here, or to be beaten into mud in the battle.

Puchalin gathered five Jin soldiers who had pulled down the wooden fence but had avoided the first attack because they were close to the unopened camp gate. He collected the scattered horses on the battlefield, opened the camp gate and rushed out. Just as he was about to circle around and shout to charge at the back of the Song army from the collapsed wooden fence, he saw more than ten armored cavalrymen rushing up from the bottom of the mountain again. The leader had a big flag with the word "Shi" behind him.

As the saying goes, enemies see each other with envy. The leading general raised his spear and said, "My grandfather's name is Shi Jun. If you are down there, don't cry foul!"

"Revenge!" More than ten armored cavalrymen of the Song army shouted in hatred, and then each of them held their weapons and rushed towards Puchalin.

The anger of the Song army can be imagined. In this great defeat, who didn’t have a few old friends who died miserably?

The Huai River and Huai River regions had been prosperous since ancient times, and even relatively honest commanders like Shi Jun led the troops to engage in business and earn money. Many soldiers had already established properties in Huaixi, married, had children, and settled down. But when the Jin invaders arrived, everything was gone.

His home was gone, his wife was kidnapped, his children and parents were killed, and his comrades in the army also died.

People in a crowd are naturally infected by the atmosphere. When everyone else is fleeing in panic, these people will naturally be swept up in it. And when everyone is furious and retaliating, these people will also not care about life or death.

Puchalin roared angrily and gave up attacking the Jingnan Army from behind. He charged head-on into battle with Shi Jun and others.

Although the Song army had twice as many people as the Jin army, and although the distance between the two sides was too close and neither of them could increase the speed of their war horses to the maximum, Pucharin was still able to fight Shi Jun to a standstill with his superb horsemanship.

After being stabbed twice, Shi Jun was not injured even though he was protected by armor, but he was still grimacing in pain. Pucharin was like a mad tiger, fighting with Shi Jun without dodging.

After seizing an opportunity, Shi Jun desperately blocked the blow with his shoulder blade, and thrust his spear out like a snake, piercing through the gap in Puchalin's armor along his shoulder. However, Puchalin seemed to be unaffected and continued to swing his long sword to chop him down.

During the struggle, both of them lost all their strength and could no longer stay on the horse. Their feet slipped out of the stirrups and they fell off the horse.

Shi Jun rolled on the ground, pulled out a melon hammer from his waist, and stood up shakily. Seeing that Pucharin was trying to pull out the spear from his shoulder, he quickly stepped forward, swung the melon hammer, and hit Pucharin's helmet hard.

Puchalin staggered back two steps, gave up pulling out the spear, and also reached for the hammer at his waist. However, Shi Jun did not give him a chance to fight back. He pushed the spear and knocked Puchalin to the ground. Then he held the hammer with both hands, and smashed the hammer head on Puchalin's helmet with a roar as if chopping wood.

After a few hits, Puchalin stopped moving completely, but Shi Jun continued to swing the melon hammer as if to vent his anger, and only stopped after smashing Puchalin's helmet.

At this time, the battle in the Jin army camp had come to an end.

Surrounded on both sides, even if the Jin army's armored cavalry had the courage of a bear and a leopard, they could not hold out for long. In fact, when there were only more than 40 armored cavalry left in the Jin army, they did not want to fight anymore. However, the Jingnan Army was already bloodthirsty and had no intention of taking any prisoners.

The Jin army was trapped in the camp, with walls on three sides and a river on one side. There was nowhere to escape and they could only be slaughtered in despair.

"General, we win!"

Shi Jun came back to his senses after hearing the cheers coming from the Jin army camp. Listening to the cheers of his personal soldiers, he was actually in a trance on the battlefield.

Then, Shi Jun leaned over and helped up his comrade who had just fallen off his horse during the battle.

The captain named Li Chang was hit on the shoulder by a hammer. Although he fell off his horse, his injury was not very serious. He still held the hammer in his hand. After getting up, he immediately looked around for the Jin army.

After seeing that all the Jin soldiers had been killed, Li Chang muttered to himself, "We won..."

"I won... I actually won..." The hammer in Li Chang's hand slipped to the ground. He covered his face with one hand, and tears mixed with sweat and blood flowed out from between his fingers.

"Wuwu..." Finally, Li Chang could no longer hide his sobs and looked up at Shi Jun and asked, "General, we can win...we can win..."

"Then why the hell are we running?!" Li Chang squatted on the ground, took off his helmet, and cried bitterly, as if asking Shi Jun, but also as if asking himself.

Shi Jun couldn't answer either. He looked at the Song army who were crying, laughing and cheering, and felt dazed.

Yes, if you can win, why run away?

At this moment, Shi Jun heard Liu Huai's loud order from the Jin army camp: "In two quarters of an hour, treat the wounded, gather the armor and horses, and cut off the heads. After two quarters of an hour, burn everything that cannot be taken away!"

"Here!"

The deafening response echoed throughout Caishiji.

(End of this chapter)