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

Chapter 369: Fighting against the Desperate Evil
"Grandpa, Grandpa, come here quickly..." Liu Huai took off his helmet and was pulling out the arrow from his shoulder when he suddenly heard a woman's voice calling him softly.

Liu Huai stopped and looked around, but found that behind a Song army soldier's body on the street was a restaurant that had been burned to ruins. Among the crisscrossing charcoal beams, the crazy woman in colorful clothes was in it, and she waved to Liu Huai gently like a frightened kitten.

"...Me?" Liu Huai pointed at his nose, somewhat unbelieving.

"Yes... Ah Ye, come here quickly..." The woman in colorful clothes was no longer as clean and pretty as before, her face and body covered in dirty charcoal: "It's dangerous outside..."

Although he didn't know the cause and effect, Liu Huai still cleared his throat and said, "Come out quickly, Aye will take you away. Why are you staying here?"

Hearing this, the colorful-clothed woman scrambled out of the rubble, walking over to the body of the Song soldier. "Just now, Liu Lang was carrying my son on his back and trying to leave the city when a large horse came from behind, and Liu Lang threw my son in there... Ah... Liu Lang... What happened to you, Liu Lang?"

Liu Huai leaned over and turned the corpse of the Song army soldier over. It was the young soldier who had carried the woman in colorful clothes out of the government office.

A heavy object had dented a large part of his helmet, and blood streaked across his wide-open, angry eyes, dripping all over the ground. His hand was still tightly gripping the unsheathed sword.

Combining what the woman in colorful clothes said, Liu Huai roughly understood what had happened.

Wang Huai ordered his troops to gather at the north gate of Zhen, but the young soldier fell to the end of the team because he had to carry the woman in colorful clothes.

When the Jin army cavalry came to attack, the young soldier threw the colorful-clothed woman into the ruins of a restaurant to protect her. However, the young soldier was too late to draw his sword to fight back, and was hit on the head by a heavy object like a cavalry hammer.

"Commander Wang..." Liu Huai stared at the corpse for a while and spoke.

Wang Huai understood and personally carried the young soldier's body onto a cart. Liu Huai had originally wanted to place the woman on a mule, but she kept calling out "Liu Lang, Liu Lang" to the corpse, so he had no choice but to let her sit on the cart and lean over to hold the young soldier's body.

At this time, all the people had retreated to the mudflats north of the county town. Only about a hundred Song soldiers were left at the north gate of the county town. They moved away the temporary barricades made from abandoned houses and put the Song soldiers who retreated here into the formation. Then, under the command of Wang Huai, they formed a formation and retreated step by step.

Hezhameng'an followed closely forward, but caused a slight commotion when Liu Huai and others entered the Song army formation, but he was quickly suppressed by Xiao Fang and others.

Although the Song soldiers were breathing heavily in front of Hezhameng'an as if a bellows was stuffed in their noses, years of rigorous training had ensured that the Song army's formation was not at all disorganized and they still maintained their formation against the enemy.

Liu Huai crossed the north gate of Wujiang County. The mudflats ahead looked like the Dungerk retreat. Li Dao mobilized all the small boats that could reach the mudflats. With more than ten people on each boat, they systematically transported the crying people back to the boats.

A battle also broke out here. Heza Meng'an had five moukes who wanted to bypass Wujiang County and encircle it. When they saw the Song army gathering the people on the mudflats north of the city, they immediately launched an attack.

However, the mudflats were not a place for the cavalry to perform. The Dongting Lake navy formed a strong formation, used armored soldiers with long spears to block the Jin cavalry, and used divine arm crossbows to shoot at close range, thus defeating Heza Meng'an's first round of attack.

Hezhameng'an was naturally not a pushover. After failing in one attack, he quickly changed his tactics and wanted to win by fighting on foot with armored soldiers.

However, just as the Jin army dismounted and lined up, the horn sounded and the Jin army had to temporarily give up. After leaving the battle, they went to ask for orders while maintaining their formation ready to attack at any time.

The Song army formed a defensive array while quickly evacuating the civilians.

At this time, more than 300 Song army soldiers formed small formations on the mudflats facing west, with long weapons in front, swords and shields in the middle, and crossbowmen in the back, looking ahead vigilantly.

"Hold steady!" The Song army captain patrolled the formation and shouted, "Don't fucking shoot any arrows!" The Song army's crossbowmen swallowed their saliva. Although they aimed their crossbows at the black mass of Jin army cavalry a hundred steps away, they loosened the tightly held trigger.

It would be funny if a crossbow arrow was shot out at this time and triggered an all-out war.

Although the Jin army's previous charge seemed a failure to Hezhameng'an, it had inflicted heavy casualties on the Dongting Lake navy. And Hezhameng'an's fearlessness and undaunted spirit had dealt a great psychological shock to the Song army.

The five remaining Moukes of the Jin army already knew the whole story at this time. The officers cursed in their hearts, but they could do nothing but wait here, forming a goose formation ready to charge a hundred steps away from the Song army formation, staring fiercely at the Song army soldiers who were escorting the civilians on the mudflats.

Li Dao stood at the bow of the boat and breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Wang Huai and the last soldiers withdraw from Wujiang County.

There are less than a thousand people surviving in the town, and the Dongting Lake navy now has more than sixty vehicles and ships, which are enough to safely transport them to the east bank of the river.

Liu Huai stood alone at the front, together with several Flying Tiger Army knights, carrying the Qilin flag of the Jin Army and escorting Wanyan Qige to intimidate the entire Jin Army and buy time for everyone. After the Song Army soldiers transported the bodies of their comrades onto the carts and boats, they also began to retreat in an orderly manner.

A moment later, Wang Huai, who was guarding a small boat, saw that the Jin army had almost retreated, so he released all the Jin horses and signaled Liu Huai that it was time to retreat as well.

Liu Huai escorted Wanyan Qige and turned to walk towards the boat. The Jin cavalry, regardless of the muddy mudflats, kept a distance of a hundred steps and pressed towards Liu Huai.

"Hey man, we've taken care of it, it's your turn!" It was Xiao Fang who spoke again, pointing his spear at Liu Huai and shouting.

Liu Huai suppressed his murderous intent, put Wanyan Qige, who was only half breath away, on the horse, patted the horse's butt, and the warhorse automatically returned to the Jin army's formation.

"I'll return the person to you, but I'll keep the flag!" Liu Huai pointed at the Meng'an flag held upside down in Shao Chongrong's hand. After saying that, he turned around and got on the boat.

Xiao Fang looked at the wounded Wanyan Qige, then raised his head to look at the Meng'an flag in the distance. His eyes went dark and he almost fainted from anger.

Killing a general and seizing the flag is the most important achievement in a military formation. The reason why seizing the flag can be mentioned on par with killing a general is not only because the general's flag is the most important prop for a general to command the army, but also because it carries the honor of an army.

The shape and pattern of the general's flag cannot be designed by the army at will. Superiors, colleagues, and subordinates must all approve it.

For example, Wanyan Qige's Qilin flag was used during the most brutal battle to suppress the Shengnuzhen rebellion. Wanyan Qige led a thousand men and made thirteen fierce attacks on the right wing of the Shengnuzhen. After the battle, only less than six hundred people in the entire thousand-man team were still able to stand up.

When rewarding people for their merits, Wanyan Liang awarded Wanyan Qige the Qilin flag to commend him, which meant "the Qilin son of my family".

Now this honor is gone!

Furious, Xiao Fang wanted to order a full-scale assault, but since they were retreating, how could the Song army not be swift and decisive? In a matter of moments, the boats were as fast as arrows from a bow, away from the shore.

Hezhameng'an could only sigh at the sight of the river.

Xiao Fang angrily shot an arrow towards the boat and roared to the sky, "I will tear you into pieces!"

(End of this chapter)