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

Chapter 342: Morale is high and the military spirit is strong

When the Jingnan Army attacked the small camp at Caishiji, Aligua was in a very conflicted mood.

He was really concerned about the floating bridge behind him.

The annihilation of Changgeng's army in Jiagu also led Aligua to misjudge the strength of the Song army.

You must know that this does not mean that the Song army defeated a hundred-man team head-on, but that the Song army wiped out a hundred Jin cavalrymen, and not a single one escaped!
These are two things that are completely not on the same level of difficulty.

Now there are 200 armored cavalry attacking the small camp at Caishiji. It seems that they are trying to lure the Jin army in the ferry camp to rescue. The main force of the Song army will take the opportunity to attack the ferry camp, thus destroying the pontoon bridge and the ferry in one fell swoop.

Because it seems unreliable to have armored cavalry attacking the camp, especially since there are a similar number of Jin armored cavalry in the Caishiji camp, how can it be captured?
Therefore, Aligua still focused his main energy on Heshan, a few miles away. There was still smoke and dust rolling there, and no one knew how many Song troops had arrived and what these Song troops were doing.

Several waves of cavalry were sent to investigate, but they were driven far away by the cavalry behind Heshan and found nothing.

Just when Aligua was still struggling, he suddenly discovered that the armored cavalry of the Jingnan Army who were going to besiege the small camp at Caishiji were rushing down from Caishiji, raising a cloud of dust.

At first, Aligua thought that the Jingnan Army had given up the attack because they saw that the small camp was well defended. However, the next moment he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

A veteran cavalry general like Aligua could easily judge the number of war horses from the sound of horse hooves. At this time, he found that this was not the sound made by 200 horses, but at least 500 horses galloping at the same time.

Five hundred horses?

Could it be that Puchalin has come out to hunt him down?
Ali was standing on the watchtower, staring at the hillside, when he noticed that black smoke was coming out of the top of the mountain. The smoke column was getting thicker and thicker, and the color was getting darker and darker. He couldn't help but open his mouth and eyes wide, and was literally stunned.

This... it doesn't seem that the Jin army was pursuing the Song army, but it seems that the Song army captured the small camp at Caishiji, seized all the war horses, retreated with the spoils, and burned the small camp down.

Han Feng shouted from the bottom of the watchtower: "General, what should we do now?"

Aligua forced himself to suppress the panic in his heart: "Han Feng, you lead thirty light cavalry to Heshan to scout out the Song army. Don't fight them head-on. Do you understand what I mean?"

Han Feng nodded repeatedly and left quickly.

Aligua was also not idle. He also took a dozen personal guards and went along the northern slope of Caishiji to investigate the situation in the small camp of Caishiji.

Not to mention that the Jin army was trembling with fear, the Song army was also worried.

The surprise attack by Jiagu Changgeng just now caused more than seventy casualties. There was no other way. The cavalry with its extremely high speed had a huge advantage over the infantry.

If these 500 Song soldiers were not the confidants of the various commanding officers, and had not suffered such heavy casualties, even with Yu Yunwen personally leading the charge, the entire army might have been defeated.

Even so, the Song army was able to maintain its fighting spirit. In addition to the morale boosted by the recent victory and the high-ranking officials leading by example, it was all thanks to the more than one hundred armored cavalry of the Jingnan Army led by Zhang Xiaoyi.

If Ali Gua really made up his mind now and led the more than 500 cavalrymen in the ferry camp to charge out, the Song army would have no choice but to die.

Only Shi Jun dared to lead a dozen of his personal soldiers to the Caishiji small camp to support Liu Huai. This incident itself shows that the Song army was still in a very conservative state.

Only after seeing Liu Huai leading the armored cavalry returning from afar, with many war horses following behind him, did a smile appear on Yu Yunwen's face again.

"Liu Dalang, should we attack the Jin bandits' camp next? Or should we turn back?" Liu Huai had just stepped forward to salute, and before he could say anything, Yu Yunwen grabbed Liu Huai's bloodstained hand and asked in a low voice.

These are the two preparations we have made for today's military expedition. If the Jin army is weaker, then we will try to attack the ferry camp today; if the number one Meng'an of the Wuping army is as elite as the number one Meng'an of the Wuxing army, then we cannot send him away recklessly, but will need the entire strength of the Huaixi army to respond.

It now appeared that although Wuping's number one commander had made a series of mistakes, such as arrogance and underestimation of the enemy, he was not lacking in combat power. If the Flying Tigers' armored cavalry had not taken advantage of their superior numbers and attacked from both sides, today's casualties would have been considerable.

"After this great victory, Yu Sheren should lead the troops back to the camp to boost morale." Liu Huai also said in a low voice.

Yu Yunwen understood that this was the stage Liu Huai had given him for his political performance. He immediately clenched his right hand and shouted loudly: "Great victory!"

"Big victory!"

"Big victory!"

First, the Jingnan Army joined in the shouting, and then the Huaixi Army cheered.

After the cheers died down a little, Yu Yunwen gave an order and Liu Huai personally led more than a hundred armored cavalry to support the battle, and the Song army marched back to the camp in a mighty formation.

Han Feng had already arrived close, but seeing Liu Huai's hundreds of elite armored cavalry arrayed under the Flying Tiger banner, glaring fiercely, he ultimately didn't dare to challenge the tiger with only thirty light cavalry, and could only leave in disappointment. Of course, Han Feng's trip wasn't entirely without gain; at least he had a clear view of the Song army's numbers and saw that the Jingnan Army had indeed captured a large number of war horses and armor.

It is said that the Song army's defense was weak during the march, which was a good time for a surprise attack, but Han Feng looked at the setting sun and finally sighed.

The Song army calculated the time of their attack. If the Jin army attacked at this time, it would definitely be a night battle.

In a night battle, victory or defeat is unclear. If we lose the pontoon bridge in an unclear manner, it would be a big mistake.

After Han Feng left, the Song army immediately deployed their marching formation and returned to Cai Shi Town in just two quarters of an hour.

Over 4,000 Song troops had already lined up at the market in the north of the town, and the prefect of Taiping Prefecture and the magistrate of Dangtu County had also arrived, along with civilians and common people who came to entertain the troops.

After ordering the officers and soldiers guarding the camp to do their jobs and treating the wounded, Yu Yunwen sat on the high platform at the entrance of the town and began his political performance.

He first ordered people to move gold, silver and other valuables from the rear camp and let the military judge check the heads for military merit. The Jingnan Army and the Huaixi Army marched directly past in a line and piled the heads in their hands on the high platform. After the military judge checked them, the rewards were distributed on the spot.

This is called "deciding now," distributing money and property directly to the soldiers, not giving the middle-level officers the opportunity to meddle with it. In addition, Yu Yunwen would ask the names of each soldier one by one and give them words of encouragement.

Logically speaking, a Secretary of the Central Secretariat like Yu Yunwen, who came to entertain the troops, was not qualified to do such a thing. The document in which he requested to take charge of the overall situation in Huaixi was just issued at noon and had not yet reached Ye Yiwen, who was in charge of the Yangtze River defense line. But who made Yu Yunwen a scholar-official?

If such an act of usurpation had been committed by a military officer, according to Song Dynasty conventions, he would have been condemned as someone with ulterior motives and a grudge. However, if it had been committed by a scholar-official, it would have been considered an upright act of taking the greater good into consideration and standing up for the world.

As more and more people were called up to go on stage to receive their rewards, the heads of the Jin soldiers piled up into a small mountain on the stage. The Song soldiers and civilians watching from the outside finally believed that Yu Sheren had led his troops to an amazing victory in less than half an hour.

Of course, in order to increase the shock value of this battle, these Jin army heads included not only the 200 Jin soldiers from the small camp on Caishiji Mountain, but also the heads thrown in earlier. Although they were not completely intact due to being trampled by horses and smashed by people in the battle, they could still be seen intact.

The onlookers were unaware of the inside story. They only thought that Yu Sheren led 800 people to raid the Jin thieves, but brought back more than 300 heads of Jin thieves.

With the noise growing louder and the faint cries coming out, the rewards and official appointments came to an end.

Although the promotion of the official titles of Shi Jun and others was just empty talk by Yu Yunwen, Yu Yunwen believed that as long as he did not confer the title of king on them, everyone in the court would have to accept the other rewards.

This is a move to save the situation. If you fail to recapture the quarrying line, you will all have to wear your hair and clothes on the left!
After the rewards were given, several soldiers carried two huge wooden boards onto the platform and then fixed them upright with huge wooden rafters.

After Yu Yunwen stood up, he took the brush from the military judge, but found that the brush was too small and it was difficult to write on the door panel that was as high as a person, so he simply threw the brush on the table.

Afterwards, Yu Yunwen simply tore off the hem of his clothes, rolled them into a ball, dipped his pen in the black blood flowing from the pile of Jin army heads, and wrote furiously on two wooden boards.

Yu Yunwen was a Jinshi who passed the imperial examinations twice, so he was naturally talented in writing. However, at this moment, he was so excited that he could only write two lines of big characters.

On the left is the spirit tablet of the people who died unjustly.

On the right is the memorial tablet for the soldiers who died in battle.

Later, another soldier brought up the incense burner and table. Yu Yunwen stepped back a few steps, bowed three times to the two spirit tablets, and then said in a loud voice: "Heaven and Earth are above, and our ancestors are above. I, Yu Binfu, bow again. The people have suffered this disaster, and the soldiers failed to defeat the enemy, which is also my fault. Now I offer three hundred heads of barbarians as a sacrifice, and I hope that Heaven will bless me and slaughter the enemy."

After Yu Yunwen finished speaking, he inserted the three incense sticks in his hand into the incense burner, bowed once more, and shouted: "I hope you will enjoy the meal!"

"Enjoy your meal!" Liu Huai led the three hundred Jingnan soldiers in shouting in unison from the audience.

Then the four hundred soldiers led by the five commanders shouted in unison.

Then, the onlookers, including the Song army soldiers and the people of Dangtu, also responded, and their voices spread like thunder in all directions.

After Yu Yunwen finished his worship, he suddenly turned around, pointed at the crowd below, and issued an order: "From this moment on, I will be in charge of the battle in front of Caishiji. Do you have any objections?"

Not to mention the five commanding officers, even the prefect, the magistrate and others who had just arrived from Dangtu had nothing to say.

When a war breaks out, naturally whoever has the ability will go forward. Those who don't have the ability and try to step forward may lose their heads if they are not careful.

You claim to be capable, but the Jin army has been at the ferry for days, slaughtering scores of villages and towns, and yet you haven't managed to capture or kill even a single Jin bandit? Yu Sheren arrived yesterday, and this afternoon he brought the heads of three hundred Jin bandits to offer as a memorial to the people. Such skill is truly undeniable.

"Since that's the case, prepare the entire army for battle. Tomorrow..." Yu Yunwen said in a loud voice, pointing to the Caishiji Ferry: "We will drive the Jin thieves into the river!"

(End of this chapter)