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

Chapter 449 Half Loyal, Half Treachery, Half Fear

When Pucha Shijie led a thousand elite cavalry into the western camp of the Wu'an Army, he saw a scene of extreme chaos.

The two thousand Wu'an troops had already put on their armor and lined up, but they were unable to cross the canal to fight because the pontoon bridge could not be closed.

At the same time, Wu Chengjun on the canal was entangled in a dispute with an officer of Wu'an Army over whether the boat or the people should pass first.

Logically speaking, the Wu'an Army was in the right in this matter.

Wu Chengjun was theoretically a "defeated general" who was only thinking about escaping the defeated army, and he had to make way for the attacking Wu'an army at all costs.

This means that one is on the shore and the other is in the river. If both are on the shore, if the defeated army dares to attack their own army, they will be killed directly.

However, things are different now. Wu Chengjun might rebel when he returns to Shandong this time. It is really unnecessary to ask them to talk about military law and humility with the Jin army.

To put it bluntly, Wu Chengjun is eager to cause trouble for Wu Anjun!
"Wu Die, tell that guy named Ji Cheng that I don't care what happens to Wu Chengjun. If he doesn't get out of the way within three minutes, I will sink his boats first and then deal with anything else!"

After listening for a while, Pucha Shijie finally understood Wu Chengjun's plan and flew into a rage. While asking his son to pass on the message, he also gave orders to Wu Anjun directly, asking them to prepare fires, braziers, torches, and make some simple rockets. If they failed to reach an agreement, they would declare Wu Chengjun a traitor and burn all the ships.

Pucha Wudie rode away and shouted loudly to the people on the boat from a distance of more than ten steps on the shore, but Ji Cheng on the boat was laughing and just pointing at the shore and making jokes.

Pucha Shijie was furious. He didn't care about the outcome and took out his bow and drove his horse forward. The moment he stepped into the river, he clamped his legs around the horse's belly. The warhorse neighed and stood up.

Pucha Shijie drew his bow and arrow, and shot it out with a whoosh.

The arrow shot out the hairpin on Ji Cheng's helmet like a meteor chasing the moon. Ji Cheng was so frightened that he quickly lowered his head and hid behind the parapet of the warship.

"Han'er army, I don't have time to waste on you." Pucha Shijie pointed his halberd at Ji Cheng and cursed: "Pull back all the ships and miss the opportunity to fight. Not to mention you, a Han'er general, even if it's Xu Wen in front of me, I will kill you!"

Pucha Wudie shouted at the right moment: "Kill!"

More than a thousand elite cavalrymen of the Wujie Army also shouted loudly: "Kill!"

The Wu'an Army then shouted in unison: "Kill!"

Three shouts of killing instantly suppressed Wu Chengjun's arrogance.

Ji Cheng touched his bare helmet, first snorted coldly at the furious Pucha Shijie, then turned his head and looked at the Wu'an Army camp with some hesitation.

No news has been heard since Xu Wen entered the camp of the Jin army commander.

Ji Cheng was not afraid of a complete fallout with the Jin army at this time, but since Xu Wen had not yet escaped, Wu Chengjun could not betray his own commander and start a fight without authorization.

"Hmph, I'll let you go this time!"

Ji Cheng spoke angrily and waved a flag to ask the steamer behind him to temporarily move back and clear the waterway.

The Wu'an Army on the water immediately took action and reconnected the pontoon bridge that had been dismantled before.

After another quarter of an hour, the pontoon bridge was finally connected.

Pucha Shijie had no patience and led more than a thousand elite cavalry from his own army to cross the river first.

When he arrived at the east coast camp, he found that the place was more chaotic than he had imagined.

The Wu'an Army soldiers came out in waves to meet the enemy, but they only delayed Zhang Rong's advance. It was not until he broke through the front camp that enough soldiers were organized to resist the Dongping Army head-on.

However, Pucha Shijie did not, as expected, gallop around and kill people in all directions after crossing the river and landing.

Xiao En, who was in the rear, had already noticed the movement on the pontoon bridge. After the pontoon bridge was closed, he immediately sent more than a thousand infantrymen to block the east end of the bridge.

As soon as Pucha Shijie led his elite cavalry down the bridge, they were blocked on the mudflat by the Dongping army, and the two sides quickly engaged in a fierce battle.

The follow-up troops of the Wu'an Army were completely blocked and could not advance or retreat on the pontoon bridge. They had to use the surplus materials to rebuild the pontoon bridge.

When Ji Cheng, the commander of the Wucheng Army, saw this scene, he laughed so hard that he fell down on the boat.

You were so arrogant just now, and now you deserve it!

Although the elite troops of the Wujie Army did not achieve immediate success, it is undeniable that the assistance of the Wujie Army quickly diluted the already small number of troops of the Dongping Army, so that Zhang Rong had only more than 2,000 soldiers available to face the enemy head-on.

However, even so, Gao Jingshan was frightened by the rapidly advancing Dongping Army. He thought that the Song Army was going to launch a general attack today, and the first punch of the counterattack would hit the head of the Wu'an Army.

Gao Jingshan was a little panicked at this time, and quickly sent military envoys to ask for help. In addition to the Wujie Army, the Shenwei Army in the east of Yangzhou City also sent many military envoys.

For the sake of Daikin, give your brother a hand.

However, the Shenwei Army was also in trouble. Li Heng personally led 3,000 soldiers and horses to fight along a tributary of the canal. The two sides began to harass each other with arrows from across the river bank, and they were about to overturn the Jin army camp.

Faced with such a situation, Xiao Qi made the same judgment as Gao Jingshan.

The enemy comes with ill intentions, the Song army is going to fight a decisive battle.

Therefore, the Shenwei Army guarded the camp carefully and did not respond to Gao Jingshan's request for help for a while.

Gao Jingshan was at a loss for a while, until Tu Shanzhen sent out cavalry to find out the situation of the surrounding troops.

Jia Hezhong's more than 5,000 infantrymen were hesitant and weak. They had no intention of attacking the main camp, nor did they intend to succeed Zhang Rong.

Apart from this, there were no more Song troops around.

After hearing the news, Gao Jingshan immediately concluded that Zhang Rong had been tricked by the Song army's habit of betraying teammates. He was completely relieved and quickly mobilized the reserve troops to besiege Zhang Rong.

Although Zhang Rong had already broken through the front camp of the Wu'an Army, he was surrounded by heavy troops near the front camp and was unable to advance at all for a while.

Sean came forward in person, covered in blood and in a state of disarray: "Brother, let's retreat. If we don't leave now, the Jin thieves will surround us from all sides and it will be difficult to leave."

Zhang Rong nodded, but then immediately shook his head: "It's still not enough. This little bit of success won't make the Jin thieves hesitate and panic. I still need to defeat the thieves in front of me."

Xiao En looked at the densely packed Jin soldiers in front of him, then looked at the extremely exhausted Dongping soldiers who were being rotated out beside him, and asked anxiously, "Brother, what are you going to do?"

Zhang Rong pointed his spear at the distant Wu'an flag and said, "I've made up my mind. You send your troops to set fire everywhere and disrupt the Jin bandit camp, while I personally lead my troops to charge head-on and tear down this flag!"

Xiao En knew Zhang Rong's temperament, so he didn't refute him. However, just as Xiao En was about to leave, Zhang Rong said again: "Whether successful or not, the Dongping army will withdraw. I will personally cover the rear!"

In such a hurry, Sean had nothing to say and could only nod randomly.

"set fire!"

"set fire!"

"Burn them all for me!"

Soon, the Dongping Army carried out Zhang Rong's order, ignited the fire, and threw the simple torches they made everywhere.

In addition to food and fodder, there were many flammable materials in the camp. Although things like tents were fire-proofed, they still smoldered and turned into thick smoke.

Seeing this scene, the Jin army really panicked quickly. The left wing soldiers left a large gap to avoid the fire, while the right wing soldiers seemed to want to split up to put out the fire, and even became somewhat dispersed when fighting.

Gao Jingshan flew into a rage upon seeing this. He unsheathed the longsword from his waist and handed it to his most valued nephew, Gao Anren. "Go to the right wing of our army and tell Gao Cunxin that I don't blame him for the previous defeat, but if he still causes trouble now, with thousands of troops gathered, I will chop off his head after the battle!"

Gao Anren took the sword with gritted teeth, but before he turned around, he saw a military envoy coming quickly from the rear camp.

The man did not dismount, but simply bowed and said, "The Left Inspector has ordered that if the Wu'an Army can no longer hold out, they may retreat to the wings."

Gao Jingshan knew that he had been frightened by Zhang Rong's offensive and had sought help everywhere, revealing his cowardice. When he heard Tu Shanzhen's order, his old face flushed and he could not help but said angrily: "The affairs of the Wu'an Army will naturally be handled by me alone. Left Inspector, just sit back and watch me defeat the bandits!"

The military envoy was a retainer of the Tushan tribe, not an official of the Jin Dynasty. He was only responsible to Tushan Zhen. Upon hearing this, he did not waste any words and just bowed and left.

Gao Jingshan was still furious and shouted at Gao Anren, "Go now!"

There is no need for Gao Anren to send a message.

In just a moment, Zhang Rong seized the opportunity again, gathering over 300 of his personal guards and charging forward. The five Moukes at the forefront of the Wu'an army were caught off guard and were routed by the blow.

The Jin troops on both wings were also caught off guard. They were in a panic because of the fire in the camp and were unable to form a pincer attack on Zhang Rong's troops.

The Jin army, with a superior force of nearly 6,000, was defeated across the board and had difficulty moving forward when faced with a frontal attack by Zhang Rong with less than 3,000 troops.

Gao Jingshan was angry again and again, but now he felt a little powerless.

Although the cavalry could not be deployed on a large scale in the camp, it was indeed embarrassing that the battle turned out like this.

Do we really have to retreat first and make way?

Gao Jingshan looked towards the rear camp, feeling hesitant. Suddenly, he felt a chill on his forehead. He stretched out his hand and caught a snowflake.

Snowing.

(End of this chapter)