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

Chapter 399: Loyalty Over Life and Death

Just when the Flying Tiger Army and the Elite Army at Yuxikou joined forces to defeat the First Meng'an of the Wurui Army, Xin Qiji had just broken through the gate of the Jin navy camp upstream of Yuxi and was fighting with the remaining troops of the Jin navy.

The Jingnan Army came too quickly. Whether it was fighting for Yuxi Town or rushing north, it revealed a style of fighting to the death.

Awukui, the deputy commander of the Shenfeng Army who stayed behind in the water stronghold, couldn't figure out how an elite enemy cavalry numbering nearly a thousand could come charging towards him from Yuxikou.

What's wrong?

Wanyan Liang's 30,000-strong army, plus Hezhameng's security forces, were wiped out?

According to common sense, it doesn't matter if you can't figure it out, just defend the camp honestly. He has a regular army led by Meng'an from the Shenfeng Army and nearly 8,000 signed troops under his command. If the camp can be captured by 800 cavalry, Awukui feels that he can kill himself on the spot.

However, the water fort built by the Jin army here was not built strictly in accordance with regulations.

To ensure the suddenness and secrecy of the land voyage, Su Baoheng prioritized concealing the fleet when building the naval camp. After all, time was short and the task was heavy. Even if many soldiers were captured, it would be impossible to build a city on flat ground.

Therefore, only a huge water fort was built, and the ships in the water fort were closely packed together. The outer fence was mainly tall, with only one layer set up to block the sight of scouts.

It can be said that if the Jingnan Army had arrived a day earlier, as long as they could break through a wooden fence, they could have burned all the warships that the Jin army had transported upstream with great effort, making it impossible to save them.

But this is the limit of what Su Baoheng can do.

After all, even if all the Jin leaders had wings, they would not have imagined that an elite army would make such a desperate attempt to cross the river.

With such elite troops, why didn't you fight the Jin army at the Huai River? You had to reach the Yangtze River to defend and counterattack, didn't you? What's the logic behind this?
During the military meeting, Awukui actually agreed with Su Baoheng's approach, but at this moment, Awukui wished he could go back a few days and slap himself hard in the face.

Because there were no inner or outer camps, no large or small camps, after Xin Qiji broke through the gate of the water fort head-on, Awukui could only fight with the 800 Jingnan armored cavalry on the plain beside the Yuxi River.

At this point, Awukui was still very optimistic.

One thousand regular Shenfeng troops plus eight thousand qianjun, nine thousand people against your eight hundred cavalry, what's the suspense? We can drown you with just numbers!
But when it came to actual implementation, Awukui faced a major problem.

Although these 8,000 signed troops were all young and strong men who had been recruited from Huaixi, and there were even many surrendered Song soldiers, and they were still alive after being tortured to this day, they were all in good health.

However, when the Jin army was collecting signatures in the north, they would still give out spears, train for two days, and assign some officers to command them.

However, due to time constraints, the 8,000 soldiers recruited from Huaixi were only responsible for digging ditches and pulling ropes. There were foremen among them, and quite a few of them, but there were only a handful of Jin army officers, and the military command system was almost non-existent.

Now these soldiers were being driven out to serve as a buffer. As long as Xin Qiji cleared the way, these eight thousand soldiers would have no choice but to flee.

If a thousand Shenfeng troops were sent to meet the enemy head-on, not to mention using the regular army to cushion the blow for the Qian army, what would Awukui's subordinates think? Just saying that there is no one to supervise them, do they really think that these powerful troops who have been bullied will not dare to turn against them and fight back?

Not to mention that Awukui was in a dilemma, on the other side, Xin Qiji was also a little hesitant after capturing the gate of the village.

On the one hand, no matter how big this water fort is, it is divided into two parts, land and water. The land area is about two miles wide and four miles long, which is equivalent to a long and narrow rectangle. In this terrain, the cavalry has no space to run around and detour against so many infantry, and they will be trapped if they are not careful.

On the other hand, Xin Qiji was smarter than Han Wenguang in that he understood that the deeper into enemy territory one advanced, the more important it was to not give up one's speed advantage, otherwise, surrounded on all sides, it would be impossible to escape. Therefore, he rejected the option of dismounting and fighting on foot from the outset.

Just when Xin Qiji wanted to set fire to the camp to disrupt the situation, someone came to solve the problem.

Whether it is Xin Qiji or Awukui, there is no need to worry about it anymore.

If we calculate from the time, the first group of Song troops to march upstream along Yuxi River was not Xin Qiji, but Yang Qin's Dongting Lake navy, who left Xin Qiji in Yuxi Town and followed Yuxi River northward.

Generally speaking, going upstream requires trackers, but the water steamers of the Dongting Lake navy are equivalent to the black technology of this era. With more than a hundred strong sailors paddling hard, the water steamers go upstream much faster than if they were towed by trackers.

Of course, the navy was going upstream, so they were soon caught up and surpassed by Xin Qiji's troops. But in this short period of stalemate, three steamships full of soldiers and sailors had reached the edge of the water fort.

Yang Qin stood at the bow, holding his sword and looking straight ahead, with a flame burning in his eyes.

If there were someone familiar with Yang Qin nearby, they would have noticed that the corners of the eyes of the deputy commander of the Dongting Lake Navy were twitching slightly, which was a sign of extreme anger.

Yang Qin's anger was not due to the Jingnan army, or even a small part of it to the Jin army. He was more angry at his own incompetence, his foresight, and his ability to judge the situation and make the right choice.

As a naval general who had been active since the Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao uprising, Yang Qin made the most correct judgment and the most accurate speculation about the course of the war the moment he heard Li Jihu report the intelligence.

The facts were just as Yang Qin had imagined. Li Dao did not retreat, but led the Dongting Lake navy to face the Jin navy's pincer attack from above and below, buying time for the Jingnan army.

Liu Huai did not retreat. He led the Jingnan army across the river and marched north with a desperate and resolute attitude.

Thinking of this, Yang Qin clenched his teeth again, and the gray beard on his cheeks also rose.

If Li Dao retreated to Gusu Creek, then although the battle to cross the river would be in vain, the Dongting Lake navy could still be preserved.

If Liu Huai did not dare to cross the river, then Yang Qin would lead the navy downstream and attack the self-righteous Jin navy from behind, and bury them in the river.

However, Li Dao used himself as bait to attract the attention of all the Jin troops. Liu Huai also did not miss this opportunity and led his army across the river to attack the Jin army's baggage pass.

Everyone knows that this is the only chance.

If this opportunity was missed and the Jin army divided its forces again to control Yuxikou, even with the capabilities of the Jingnan army, it would be difficult to gain an advantage in the river crossing and landing operations.

By then, Lianghuai will really no longer belong to the Song Dynasty!
Yang Qin naturally knew all of this. To be precise, he was the first person today to realize the development of the situation. However, when he thought of his former comrades fighting a bloody battle on the river and the possibility of being wiped out, he still felt heartbroken and wished he could take their place.

Since you can't sacrifice yourself for someone else, then just die fighting on your respective battlefields!
"General! There's a water gate ahead. Should we use the Eight Ox Crossbow or rockets?"

An officer shouted for orders.

Yang Qin glanced up and realized that this water fort was hastily built. The water gate was also a temporary wooden fence, so it couldn't be very solid. So he ordered coldly: "No need, just charge through!"

The officer was stunned for a moment, then shouted an order: "The general has given the order, row! Speed up! Crash!"

"Stand still!"

"Crash it over!"

"what!!!"

Amidst all kinds of roars.

Under the frightened gaze of the Jin army on the wall of the camp.

The huge flagship slammed into the camp, and the huge ramming horn knocked a water gate directly out.

Yang Qin's body swayed for a moment, then he held the rudder, drew his sword and shouted: "My men, follow my order, Eight Ox Crossbows, Divine Arm Bows, Trebuchets, whatever you have, use them, kill every Jin thief you see!"

"Kill the thief!"

"Kill the thief!"

The three huge water-powered ships were like three water fortresses, spraying arrows towards the shore. There were several small boats carrying people on Yuxi River, but they were also overturned, and the Jin soldiers on them were crushed into the bottom of the boats with screams.

The Shenfeng Army, which was lined up with its back to the river, was startled and their formation became chaotic.

Several marching Moukes turned their gazes to the flag of their own marching Meng'an, while the sweating marching Meng'an looked at Awukui, wanting to get some orders from him.

But Awukui was in even worse condition. He turned pale and began to stagger on the horse.

"General Manager! General Manager!" Xingjun Meng'an called out loudly several times, and Awukui finally came to his senses.

"Things are going to get bad!" Awukui knew that now was not the time to talk nonsense, so he pointed directly at the 8,000 soldiers standing densely in front of him, more like human shields than formations, and said, "We shouldn't let these Han slaves out.

"These Han slaves are used to changing their ways with the wind. If we fall into the slightest disadvantage, it won't be nine thousand people attacking eight hundred cavalry and a few steamships. It will be eight thousand people plus these Song dogs, all coming together to attack our one thousand!"

Xing Jun Meng'an was horrified: "What should we do now?"

Awukui calmed down and immediately gave the order: "All troops, march forward and push these Han slaves away from the river. Let them escape, we can capture them later, but we absolutely cannot let them join forces to attack us!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xin Qiji started to move before General Meng'an gave the order.

(End of this chapter)