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

Chapter 431: The Unrequited Gratitude to the Nation

Liu Huai looked at the commotion at the city gate, which was gradually subsiding, and frowned as he asked, "What's going on with Lei Ben? Why did he lead the entire army onto the city without arranging follow-up troops? We still have to rely on Xin Wulang to make decisions on the battlefield."

He Boqiu shook his head and said, "Lei Tongzhi is just a fighting general. It's enough for him to take the initiative to fight in a critical moment. It's difficult for him to consider everything properly."

Liu Huai sighed, "Uncle Lei is already over forty years old. He's no longer strong enough to fight. How many more years can he be a general? If he doesn't consider the overall situation, how can we dare to entrust him with the responsibility? If he doesn't want to die inexplicably from exhaustion in a major battle, he will have to leave the army."

He Boqiu could only nod upon hearing this.

During wartime, the replacement of the old with the new in the military is very rapid, which is also very normal. Everyone grows in the war. The old people cannot keep up with the growth rate and are eliminated. It is normal for new people to take over.

For example, Yue Fei became the Jiedushi at the age of 32, which naturally meant that he was a genius. However, an important reason was that those who were older than him in the Tokyo Liaison Office either died or fled.

Liu Huai understood this situation, He Boqiu understood it, and even Lei Ben, the subject of their discussion, had a vague sense of it. It was just that discussing such matters on the battlefield was a bit too cruel.

Putting his chaotic thoughts aside, He Boqiu said, "Sir, the Jin thieves are attacking so hard today, it seems they want to finish their victory in one fell swoop."

"Indeed." Liu Huai nodded and pointed at various parts of the city walls. "I originally wanted to train the troops, but with the Jin bandits acting like this, I can't continue with the training."

He Boqiu nodded: "The Jin bandits fought with all their might from the very beginning. After suffering heavy casualties from us, they might withdraw."

"Have General Yang and Liang Zichu get ready." Liu Huai sneered, "I showed weakness, and they actually took advantage of me, thinking I was truly weak. They're completely clueless. Order all units to muster their troops and await my orders."

The battle had been going on for nearly two hours at this point, and the Jin troops who had taken advantage of the chaos to climb the city had almost been wiped out, with only a few people resisting stubbornly.

Faced with such a situation, the Jin army really could not fight any further.

The first person to feel the strange atmosphere was Pu Sanshou, who had gathered nearly a thousand soldiers and cooperated with Huang Hengsan to climb the city wall.

Because in his sight, Huang Hengsan's flag had disappeared from the top of the city for a while, but it never appeared again, and the city gate did not open again. All this gave Pu Sanshou a bad premonition.

On the other side, when Huang Hengsan's flag disappeared from the top of the city wall, although his men were still fighting, their organization had begun to fall into chaos under the rain of arrows from crossbows.

Although Da Huaizheng wanted to order them to retreat and reorganize the army first, on the one hand, Huang Hengsan's life or death was uncertain and he was very likely still fighting on the city wall. On the other hand, the harsh military law of beheading the whole army made those marching Moukes dare not retreat.

Although Pu Sanshou valued his life more and did not go to the top of the city wall himself, the Jin army under his command was never able to open a gap in the city wall and was often driven down as soon as they climbed up the city wall.

The situation at the city gate was even worse. Da Huaizhen gathered the forces of four Moukes there and drove the Qian army to carry simple siege weapons to break through the gate. However, as soon as the Qian army was dispatched, there was a rain of arrows from the top of the city. The Qian army, with extremely weak combat power and morale, could not hold out for long under the flying arrows and was defeated in a few moments.

Pu Sanshou came galloping over in a panic and asked Da Huaizhen for orders: "General, send the regular army to attack the city gate! The scepter army is really useless. No matter how many times we charge, it will be useless!"

"No, let the soldiers charge! I don't believe that Song's arrows are free and can be endlessly produced!" Seeing another wave of soldiers attacking the city gate being driven back by arrows, leaving dozens dead and wounded, Da Huaizhen was furious and said to Pu Sanshou: "Let's see who has more arrows, theirs or my soldiers!"

"Yes!" Pu Sanshou bowed and continued to organize the next attack.

It's no wonder that Da Huaizhen was so furious. In a state of war, the consumption of munitions is very terrifying. Take the manufacture of feather arrows for example. An arrow needs four steps: cutting wood, gluing feathers, attaching arrowheads, and painting, but it only takes one second to shoot!
Edward I of the West also had a famous saying when facing the attack of the Scots: Arrows are so expensive, use the Welsh, they don’t cost money anyway!

If he were in Da Huaizhen's shoes, he would not waste any arrows to deal with these beggar soldiers, and he would even feel sorry for using gold juice!
Doesn’t it require firewood to boil golden juice?

Of course, Pu Sanshou still had some complaints in his mind: the arrows of the Jingnan Army were of course free, these were originally supplies for the 30,000 troops sent to the front line.

If these arrows were all made by the Jingnan Army, Liu Huai would definitely be reluctant to use them. However, these were military supplies piled up in Chao County, and it would be a waste if they were not used.

The saying "a son sells his father's land without feeling any pain" is exactly this kind of mentality.

Under the butcher knife of the Jin army, the Qian army once again pushed up the battering ram and entered the bloody mouth under the city gate.

Da Huaizheng was panting and simply stood on the horse's back, looking around and thinking about the current situation in his mind.

Huang Hengsan and Pu Sanshou attacked the city wall together. Yelu Tula led more than a thousand cavalry to wander around the periphery, ready to fight with the Jingnan army leaving the city at any time. Da Huaizhen, as the commander-in-chief of the army, and Da Hongshan lined up far outside the city gate, ready to be the first to enter the city after the gate was opened.

Of course, once the fighting actually started, the situation became a bit chaotic.

Da Huaizhen and Da Hongshan are doing fine here.

In order to seize the city gate after it was opened, Pu Sanshou chose a place to climb the city wall that was too close to the gate, so that he obstructed the soldiers who were carrying battering rams to break down the gate, causing some confusion.

Yelu Tula's forces were in even greater disarray. Some of his cavalry were from Huang Hengsan's army. Seeing their leader ascend the city walls, these marching moukes, threatened with execution, became furious. While they didn't directly resist Yelu Tula's orders, they did dispatch a few soldiers to patrol the city walls, firing arrows to aid their own men-at-arms.

Although Yelu Tula was angry about this, he had no choice. Although he had absolute jurisdiction over his own Meng'an, he could not use such a trivial matter to decide the life and death of other Meng'ans.

This also led to the fact that although Yelu Tula theoretically had ten cavalry of Mouke, he could only mobilize more than 600 flags for battle at any time.

Where will the next breakthrough come from?
Just as Da Huaizheng was anxiously thinking, he heard an uproar on the city wall.

Looking up, he saw that the place where Huang Hengsan had climbed first had been recaptured by the Song army, while the Jin army who were still fighting above it had climbed over the wall and climbed down the ladder. Those who had no time to escape simply jumped down from the top of the city wall.

These soldiers who were the first to climb the mountain were the bravest in the army. Why did they flee in such a panic? What did they see?

Soon, Da Huaizhen found out.

A human head and a Meng'an flag were hung on the top of the city wall, and displayed from afar to Da Huaizhen under the general's flag.

Huang Hengsan died in battle. Seeing this scene, Da Huaizhen's mind went blank, and then he realized a terrible possibility hidden deep in his mind. He looked involuntarily in the direction of Guishan Mountain, and his whole body trembled.

At this time, not only Huang Hengsan's troops were in a panic, but the entire army was in a panic. Noisy exclamations came like a tide, and the Qian army and Huang Hengsan's troops, who were the first to bear the brunt, immediately suffered a major retreat.

As a result, Meng'an, a subordinate of Pu Sanshou, became unstable.

Although Da Hongshan was not panicked to this extent, he still gave orders, agreeing that the troops who had previously climbed the city wall on the front line should slowly retreat, while letting his troops go forward to support them, so as to avoid a total collapse on the entire line.

"General, let's retreat! The men are too tired." After a busy period, Da Hongshan rode his horse over and whispered to Da Huaizheng.

This was actually a way of giving Da Huaizhen some face. What did he mean by "the men were too tired"? It was simply that the battle was no longer viable!
There were four marching soldiers in the battle, and one of them died.

Among the infantry, Huang Hengsan's charge had led to heavy casualties, with at least 400 regular troops rendered ineffective. Although Pu Sanshou's troops fared better, they still suffered nearly 200 casualties. The fortunes of the signed troops were even worse, with at least 1,000 casualties.

If the Jin army had not kept a few Moukes as supervisors, the Qian army would have been defeated long ago.

The organization is already in complete disarray, and continuing to fight like this would be a waste of blood.

If we don't retreat while the cavalry is still in good order, and wait for more armored cavalry to be lost, it will be difficult to leave.

Don't forget that according to Wusheng Army's speculation, the Chao County defenders also have a cavalry team that is not large in number but very powerful in combat.

"Retreat, where to retreat to?" Da Huaizheng asked softly with a grim expression.

"Of course we should retreat to the Guishan camp and reorganize the army to fight again!" Although Da Hongshan didn't know why Da Huaizhen suddenly lost his ambition, he still firmly expressed his thoughts.

"We've come to the wrong place. The Wusheng Army shouldn't have come in the first place. We've plunged headfirst into the Song army's meticulously prepared battlefield, facing a desperate force. Unfortunately, time is limited, so we can only resort to crude tactics like ants attacking a city." Da Huaizhen finally understood and told his confidants his thoughts: "Without the right time, place, and people, the Wusheng Army has no chance. How can they win?"

"General, our army still has thirty intact Moukes. It's too early to admit defeat now!" Da Hongshan said anxiously.

"I just figured it out. Have you seen the Song navy these past few days? That young man Liang Zichu is a tough nut to crack, but why hasn't he shown up for this battle?" Da Huaizhen sighed and said, "He must be waiting for this moment."

"Unless, unless he was ordered to do so, then the camp..." Dahongshan suddenly turned his head and looked at Guishan.

Although the camp several miles away was still calm, Dahongshan knew that it was dangerous there.

"Don't look at it. There are only two Mouke's regular troops and a thousand signed troops in the camp. If the Jingnan army knows the opportunity, Brother Liang should be on the way." Da Huaizheng sat upright on his horse, letting the Moukes form a strict formation.

Although it was a life-and-death situation, he remained calm, as if he was just discussing some trivial matters with his confidant.

"I will personally lead the armored cavalry to take it back..." Da Hongshan said fiercely with gritted teeth.

"It's useless. Remember the three stone bridges over the Shiliang River?" Da Huaizhen said. "When I passed by, a fleeting question crossed my mind: why didn't the Jingnan army destroy the stone bridges?"

"Now I understand. It's precisely because of the stone bridge that we didn't think of going upstream to find a ferry and building a floating bridge. Now, if Brother Liang destroys the stone bridge, the Wusheng Army will be unable to retreat even if they want to."

Da Huaizhen looked around and said to Pu Sanshou, "The Song people's goal has never been to defend Chao County."

"Instead, the entire Wusheng Army will be annihilated here."

"Before, the Jingnan Army was only on the defensive. If we show any signs of retreat, the counterattack will be like thunder."

"Alas..." Da Huaizhen looked up to the sky and sighed heavily. "Old Huang, Old Huang, everything you said made sense. Unfortunately, I was blinded by my future and my life, and ultimately did not listen to you. Now, not only has your life been wasted, but I have also pushed the Wusheng Army to the brink of collapse."

"And Your Majesty," Da Huaizhen finished, his eyes already red. "Your Majesty raised me from humble beginnings, allowing me to ascend from a commoner to the position of Commander-in-Chief of an army. What a great favor this is. But now I have put Your Majesty in danger. I truly deserve death."

"General, please stop saying this. No matter how dire the situation is, can it be as difficult as it was for Taizu at Chuhedian and Hubudagang?" Da Hongshan pulled the reins of his horse, furious. "Our army still has fighting power. Is this the time to lose our will?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding soldiers and generals who didn't know what was going on looked at them sideways.

"What should we do? Boss, you make the final decision, and I'll take the lead from now on!"

Da Huaizhen looked at the young nephew and nodded with a slight smile: "What a good man! He is worthy of the reputation of our Wusheng Army."

"We absolutely cannot retreat. If we do, we will inevitably become disorganized. The Jingnan army's infantry, cavalry, and navy will then harass and attack us in turns, and any retreat will inevitably turn into a rout." Da Huaizhen pointed to the Chao County wall before him. "The way out is always here. Our army still has the strength to fight. As long as we can capture Chao County, we still have a chance of survival."

"Okay, I will go to the city myself!" Dahongshan said with a bow.

"No, you and A Shou will command the front and rear respectively. You must not move rashly..." Da Huaizhen stretched out a finger and shook it.

Soon, Dahongshan knew what his immediate superior, the marching commander Dahuaizhen, was going to do.

The flag representing the general manager and the recognition flag moved towards the city wall. Amid the stunned gaze of the ordinary Jin soldiers, the general drum urging the attack suddenly rumbled in the formation, and shouts of killing rang out from the Wanhu personal guards.

The entire Jin army was in awe, and then there was a loud bang. The regular army, which was originally fleeing and disintegrating, stopped, quickly turned around and began to organize its troops, and its morale also rose.

The military tactic of "pulling a team and killing them" always has thousands of shortcomings, but it can ensure that when the commander-in-chief personally goes into battle, the entire army will fight to the death.

The Jin army was like crazy, no longer caring about the rain of arrows, and once again carried simple ladders to attack the city wall.

At this critical moment, Da Huaizheng did not retreat or flee, but prepared to personally lead the troops into the city as the commander-in-chief!
　My cold has gotten worse, so there should only be one chapter today.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)