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

Chapter 469: Fighting to the Death May Not Lead to Death

Da Huaizhong instinctively felt that something was wrong.

How can a war be fought in a random manner?
Why can’t we kill Cheng Min first and then deal with other things?
However, after standing on horseback and looking far to the east, Da Huaizhong instantly understood what Wanyan Liang was thinking.

There is a very famous long shot in the movie "The Decisive Battle", which is the march of Huang Wei's army.

Someone once joked that if Huang Wei's army could really form such a formation, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was invincible.

Regardless of the degree of exaggeration in this statement, the fact that an army is elite can be determined by its marching formations is an unchanging truth from ancient times to the present.

Just as Cheng Min had boasted before, although the Jingnan army under Liu Huai looked very elite, as long as they marched more than ten miles and their formation became disrupted, Cheng Min was confident that he could use only 200 cavalrymen to kill Liu Huai's 500 cavalrymen.

Liu Huai and even Xin Qiji knew the advantages and disadvantages of the Jingnan Army. On the other hand, the battlefield was so chaotic and the Jin cavalry was so numerous that losing the formation at this time meant losing lives!

Therefore, the Jingnan army formed a strict formation and advanced at a relatively slow pace, hoping that once a battle broke out, they would be able to immediately deal a heavy blow to the Jin army.

However, Yu Yunwen was unaware of this, as his troops came from a much more diverse background. A mix of defeated troops from various regions along the Huainan West Route, reinforcements from Jiangnan, elite troops from Li Xianzhong's army, and young and strong men recruited from Dangtu, this army totaled 7,000 men.

If we count the 2,000 troops of Zhang Xiaoyi who came to support and defeat the enemy, today's huge Huaixi army has nearly 10,000 troops.

Although they had experienced the Battle of Cai Shi, it was a defensive battle after all. The Huaixi army had no training in marching and did not realize how dangerous such a marching method was in a battlefield full of cavalry.

When Xin Qiji sent a military envoy to deliver the warning to Yu Yunwen, Yu Yunwen was actually unable to control the army.

Before the staff system was formed, keeping orders and discipline in the army of nearly 10,000 people was a very complicated task. Li Xianzhong could certainly do it, and people like Yu Yunwen and Shi Jun who had long experience in the army could also do it, but now they can't do it.

Lu You, currently in Zhang Xiaoyi's army, looked at the Huaixi army, which had already pulled away, and said with some worry, "Are we moving too slowly?"

Zhang Xiaoyi's face was gloomy, but he smiled slightly when he heard this: "It's not that we are too slow, it's that Yu Xianggong is too fast."

After that, Zhang Xiaoyi gave the order directly: "All troops halt, form a square formation, and prepare to meet the enemy!"

The enemy troops had not joined the Huaixi army's formation before, but were marching alone on the official road on the left. Now that they were forming a formation, they directly blocked the flattest official road.

Zhang Xiaoyi said to Lu You again: "Mr. Lu..."

He then looked at Xu Zongyan and hesitated for a moment before speaking their first words: "And Xu Dapan, the two of you go to Prime Minister Yu's army and explain to him in person that the Jin bandits are chasing us from behind. If we don't stop, our army will become an easy target, and they will definitely come after us first!"

"Okay!" Lu You nodded and got on the horse without hesitation.

However, Xu Zongyan looked at Zhang Xiaoyi and shook his head. "Prime Minister Yu is not a stubborn person. As long as Mr. Lu goes, it will be fine. I have other matters to attend to in the army and I cannot stay away."

Zhang Xiaoyi looked at Xu Zongyan for a moment, then finally nodded: "Then Mr. Lu, be careful on the road."

Lu You knew that this was not the time for him to be nagging, so he bowed and left with a few personal guards.

Li Xiu shook his head and sneered at Xu Zongyan, "Xu Dapan, the battle is about to begin. How can you focus on military matters right now? Why don't you take refuge with the Huaixi army instead of joining ours?"

Compared with these three people, Lu You was still a little naive in military affairs. He didn't know that there was only one purpose for breaking the enemy's line of battle in the road, and that was to buy time for the Huaixi army.

With the momentum of a great victory, Pucha Shijie is likely to land his first punch on the enemy's head.

It is hard to say how much the 3,000 elite soldiers selected from the 30,000 households of the Jin army in Huaidong were weakened even after the long expedition and fierce fighting.

In other words, it is really unknown whether the army can defeat 2,000 enemy troops and withstand Pucha Shijie's desperate charge. Compared to this place, the Huaixi army is safer.

To put it bluntly, the Huaixi army has as many as 7,000 people. Even if they are defeated, the probability of them escaping by taking advantage of the situation is greater.

Xu Zongyan's expression remained unchanged, his tone sincere, "I have brought all of you to Huainan to fight for the Song Dynasty. How can I stand on the dry shore and watch you die fighting for it?"

Zhang Xiaoyi smiled. After putting on his helmet, he turned around and said, "When we defeated the enemy army heading south, there were only a thousand of us. Now, our ranks have expanded to two thousand. They are no longer just men from Donghai, but also many from Huainan. We fought to kill the enemy and avenge them, and they fought to defend their country. We fought side by side. No one owes anyone anything."

Xu Zongyan also lowered his head and put on his helmet, his tone becoming more sincere: "No, what I mean is, I must find a way to repay what I owe you."

Zhang Xiaoyi was stunned for a moment, then reached out and patted Xu Zongyan on the shoulder: "Old Xu, with what you said and after what happened today, we are even now."

Xu Zongyan bowed, but there was no smile on his face.

At this time, the formation to break the enemy army had been launched, forming a square formation with armored soldiers with spears, swords and shields on the outside, archers on the inside, and armored cavalry in the middle.

The dust from the galloping war horses in the distance was growing thicker and thicker, blending into the gloomy sky covered with dark clouds, covering the city like a dark cloud.

Pucha Shijie panted and stopped his horse.

The same was true for the elite cavalry under his command. The white mist exhaled by many of them swirled above their heads, forming a strange cloud.

Pucha Wudie moved his body uncomfortably, feeling that the chill from his soaked clothes and armor when he had just forced his way across the Qingxi River had already penetrated into his bones. It was not obvious when his blood was still hot from the previous battle, but now after riding his horse for a long time, his whole body was trembling in the cold wind.

But at this time, Pucha Wudie had no time to care about himself, but instead carefully checked the condition of the horse under his crotch.

Before the support came from Huaidong, these 3,000 elite soldiers each had four horses, including two main war horses, which almost took away all the high-quality war horses from the 30,000 households in Huaidong.

When they rushed to the east of Qingxi River, they almost ran out of all their reserve horses, and after a desperate battle with Wang Qi and Wang Zhen's reserve troops, their war horses suffered heavy casualties.

By now, out of the more than 2,000 soldiers in the army, almost everyone was left with only one warhorse.

The current situation is exactly what senior military officers such as Tu Shanzhen worried about.

The 30,000 elite troops from Huaidong who came to support not only could not use half of their abilities after a long journey, but they had also completely lost the means to escape from the battlefield.

If they win a great victory, it will be fine. But if they suffer a crushing defeat, these three thousand elite soldiers will not even have the chance to withdraw from the battlefield.

"Father!" After checking the horses, Pucha Wudie said to Pucha Shijie, "No matter what, please make a decision quickly! If we don't start the war, our men will freeze to death!"

Pucha Shijie looked at the square formation in front of him, then looked at the "Defeat the Enemy" flag flying high in the square formation, and then turned his gaze to the Huaixi army a mile away.

Although they had stopped there, their formation was in disarray because they had moved too fast before. Dai Gao in the rear was not a great general and was unable to gather his troops quickly, so the situation was still in disarray.

"Father!" Pucha Wudie urged anxiously.

Pucha Shijie glanced at his son and exhaled a puff of white air: "How many soldiers and horses are left in our army that can fight?"

Pucha Wudie was startled, and quickly mounted his horse, glanced back, and then sat back down: "Father, two thousand five hundred cavalry!"

"enough!"

Pucha Shijie raised his long sword and said, "Tudan, quickly line up and lead your Tudan tribe soldiers to follow me!"

"Wu Die, I leave the rest of the troops to you. You will be my successor. Do you know what to do?"

Pucha Wudie was slightly stunned, then looked at the enemy-defeating flag with a hint of a sneer on his face: "The child naturally knows!"

Half a minute later, as Zhang Xiaoyi's face gradually became ugly, more than 2,000 Jin army cavalry, under the guidance of the Wujie flag, bypassed the enemy's strong formation set up on the official road and crashed into the rear of the Huaixi army.

Dai Gao's troops had just gained a foothold and were in the process of turning to form a battle array when they were severely attacked by the Jin army and immediately fell into chaos.

"Stand still!" Dai Gao commanded his subordinates to meet the enemy and led hundreds of soldiers forward to try to turn the tide of the battle.

However, once the Jin army's armored cavalry began to attack, how could it be so easy to stop them?

The infantry's spear formation could not be arranged neatly in the first place, and even the relatively elite soldiers could not stop the galloping horses by their own strength.

The more than 2,000 people in the rear line only held out for a moment before the entire army was defeated under Pucha Shijie's swift attack.

Dai Gao's commanding general was captured, and his life or death was unknown. The Song army trampled on each other, resulting in countless casualties.

After Pucha Shijie broke through the rear of the Song army, he did not stop and led the defeated army back to rush towards the central army where Yu Yunwen was.

Zhang Xiaoyi's face turned pale.

Originally, he wanted to use the defeated enemy army as bait to lure Pucha Shijie to attack, thus buying time for the Huaixi army. However, he never expected that Pucha Shijie was a famous general in the world after all. After judging the situation on the battlefield, he had no intention of fighting with Zhang Xiaoyi. He led the army to bypass the defeated enemy army and went straight to Yu Yunwen, risking being attacked from both sides.

Now it was his turn to make a decision.

Moreover, there is definitely no shortage of smart people among the enemy army. Some of them understood the situation and made warnings.

Commanding officer Fu Gongyuan said anxiously, "Brother Xiaoyi, the bandits are deliberately leaving their positions vulnerable. They must have a portion of their troops not participating in the battle, waiting for us to dismantle their formation and then attack us!"

Zhang Xiaoyi nodded: "I know."

Seeing Zhang Xiaoyi's expression, Fu Gongyuan calmed down and said, "Brother Xiaoyi, do you still want to lead the army to rescue Yu Xianggong?"

Zhang Xiaoyi nodded again, his tone equally calm: "The order I received from Dalang is to support the Huaixi army. How can I sit back and do nothing?"

Fu Gongyuan gritted his teeth and said, "In that case, I will be the vanguard!"

Zhang Xiaoyi called the military envoy and said, "Tell Li Xiu to lead the left wing. I will be the right wing. Ah Fu, you will be the vanguard!"

"Here!"

A moment later, the enemy's solid formation was broken apart on its own, and the entire army formed a square formation, turned north, and went to encircle the Jin army.

Seeing this scene, Pucha Wudie grinned grimly, and then ordered the flag-bearing officer to wave the flag vigorously.

Hiding behind the fighting troops, a group of 1,500 armored cavalrymen who had not participated in the battle turned around and bypassed the area where Pucha Shijie was fighting with the Huaixi army, and charged towards the enemy army that had just changed its formation.

There was no harassment from light cavalry, no charge threats, Pucha Wudie led the armored cavalry to launch a direct and direct attack.

Even though the officers who defeated the enemy were well prepared, the chaos caused by the change in formation was an objective reality and unavoidable.

As the first vanguard to form a battle line, Fu Gongyuan only held out for less than a quarter of an hour before he was overwhelmed by the mighty armored cavalry, and the four hundred infantrymen with unstable formations were defeated.

However, the greatest danger was not from the front. The cavalry's speed advantage allowed them to attack by bypassing the flanks. The main follow-up troops of the Jin army were like a giant pair of pliers, bypassing the vanguard in the melee and pinching the left and right wings of the enemy army.

"Hold on! Stand still! Hold your spears tight!" Li Xiu roared loudly, but his voice was still too small amid the rumbling of horses' hooves and the neighing of people and horses.

At the critical moment, Li Xiu inexplicably looked at the banner that had defeated the enemy, but he saw that the banner did not stand still, but suddenly moved forward. Over a hundred armored cavalrymen under his command galloped forward, launching a counterattack against the Jin army armored cavalry that outnumbered them several times.

Li Xiu suddenly realized it and also raised his spear and shouted loudly: "Forward!"

After saying this, he didn't care whether the soldiers around him could hear the order or not, and directly led more than a hundred armored cavalry under his command to charge out.

There were only 200 armored cavalrymen in the enemy army, and the Jin cavalrymen they faced numbered as many as a thousand. However, under the leadership of two main generals, these 200 armored cavalrymen actually managed to curb the charge from the flank.

Inspired by their commander, the enemy soldiers rushed forward regardless of their disorganized formation and began a close fight with the Jin cavalry.

The battlefield quickly became intense and turned into a melee in an instant.

Pucha Wudie had not expected that the 2,000 rear guards of the Huaixi army would be easily broken like a pig's urine float. However, this army with the flag of breaking the enemy was still fighting bravely despite being in almost disorganized state.

After killing several armored soldiers in succession, Pucha Wudie looked back at his father, but he only saw Pucha Shijie's figure hidden among the armored cavalry and armored soldiers. He could vaguely see the Wujie flag still rushing forward, unstoppable.

Yu Yunwen, the commander of the Huaixi army and the general in charge of the central army, and Shi Jun, the de facto general, did not want to stop Pucha Shijie. It was because the front army also had problems.

Specifically, while the rear army was being defeated, a mixed cavalry of nearly two thousand iron cavalry and armored cavalry rushed into Yu Yunwen's front army.

The Jinwu flag fluttered in the wind, Da Huaizhong took the lead and rushed to the front, followed closely by Wanyan Liang.

Heza Meng'an, who was already somewhat exhausted, stood up again, like an extremely sharp knife, and chopped the unstable formation of the Song army into pieces.

The commander who led the way in the front was Li Ziyuan, a fierce general of the Chizhou army. The two thousand armored soldiers and infantry he led were Li Xianzhong's old supporters and also his reliance on the Song Dynasty.

The fact that Li Ziyuan was leading the way at the front was not because Yu Yunwen carried forward the traditional art of the Song army of harming its neighbors, but because Li Xianzhong gave the order himself.

Again, if Li Xianzhong didn't want to participate in the war, he would have a thousand excuses to fool Yu Yunwen. But since he had already made up his mind to fight to the death, why bother with the petty thoughts of preserving his strength?
It has to be said that Li Xianzhong's arrangement saved the Huaixi army.

When chaos broke out in the rear, Li Ziyuan began to line up his troops to meet the enemy. By the time Da Huaizheng led his troops to attack, a rough spear formation had been formed while the vanguard was blocking the way.

"Lead!" Commander Hou Gaolang gave the order loudly.

Three hundred crossbowmen lined up in two rows, and simultaneously strung the crossbows, aiming directly at the rushing Heza Meng'an.

"Hold on!"

The so-called "Divine Arm Bow" could penetrate heavy armor from 300 steps away was just a beautiful myth. The arrows fired from the Divine Arm Crossbow could only penetrate armor within 30 steps, so it was best to fire when the enemy was within 20 steps.

However, the Song army, which was afraid of close combat, often would not hold out for more than twenty steps, and would have used up all their crossbow arrows early on. Especially when facing the surging cavalry, the Song army generally could not remain calm.

However, the elite troops trained by Li Xianzhong himself were not ordinary Song troops.

"Hold steady!" Hou Gaolang ordered loudly.

The crossbowmen placed their slightly trembling fingers on the trigger. Although there was some commotion, they still maintained the formation.

"Come in!"

Da Huaizhong raised his iron spear and shouted.

After defeating the vanguard of the Song army, Da Huaizhong did not hesitate and led the cavalry to continue charging towards the Song army formation.

"Hold on!" Hou Gaolang continued to yell.

He silently calculated the distance between him and the Jin cavalry.

One hundred steps...

Seventy steps...

Fifty steps...

"Ready!" Hou Gaolang pointed his spear forward and shouted, "Fire!"

shhhhhh! ! !
The sound of the arrow breaking through the air and the clanging sound of the bowstring mixed together, and for a moment they actually drowned out the sound of horse hooves.

After an arrow was shot, the crossbowmen retreated hurriedly, passed through the passage reserved for them in the gun formation, lined up neatly behind the formation, and strung the crossbows again.

The armored cavalry of the Jin army in the front row trembled all over as if they had been electrocuted. Both men and horses were shot like hedgehogs, rolling on the ground wailing and screaming. Even the cavalry behind them stumbled and fell to the ground.

At least fifty cavalrymen lost their combat effectiveness, and the momentum of the Jin army's charge was also halted.

Da Huaizhong charged forward on horseback without getting hurt, but his horse was hit by five arrows, and its front hooves gave way, throwing Da Huaizhong out.

Da Huaizhong rolled on the ground, and the iron spear in his hand flew away. He had no time to care about it. He could only try to curl up his body into a ball to avoid being trampled by the warhorse.

After a sound of horse hooves, Da Huaizhong heard someone calling his name.

"Azhong!"

"Your Majesty!" Da Huaizhong recognized the voice and looked up, only to see Wanyan Liang riding a horse towards him. He leaned over and used the horse's power to pull Da Huaizhong up, just like the traditional Mongolian activity of catching a sheep, and used his skillful strength to throw Da Huaizhong onto a warhorse behind him.

Da Huaizhong quickly reined in his horse and leaned over to pick up a spear. Before he could even say thank you, he heard Wanyan Liang yell, "Ah Zhong! Follow me and break through the formation!"

After saying this, Wanyan Liang displayed his side as a Jurchen military aristocrat. He personally led Heza Meng'an, and as the emperor, he drove his horse ahead of thousands of troops and attacked the Song army formation.

"Kill!"

Wanyan Liang waved his spear to push away several spears in front of him. Shen Jun's warhorse encountered almost no obstruction and stepped straight into the Song army formation.

Seeing the emperor so brave, the morale of the Jin army was greatly boosted. They ignored the natural restraint of the spear formation on cavalry and rushed into the spear formation.

Most of the knights did not have Wanyan Liang's skills and luck, and were riddled with spears.

However, these knights used their horses and themselves as weapons to break the formation, smashing the Song army's spear formation into pieces.

The combined weight of the armor of the centaurs and horses was as much as five to six hundred pounds. Add to that the potential energy generated by the high-speed charge, and even the combined force of several spears pressed against the ground could not stop the momentum of the charge.

The front row of the Song army's spear formation turned into a bloody Shura field, with broken spears, torn armor, Jin army knights who were thrown into a bloody mess along with their horses, and Song army soldiers who were hit with broken bones and tendons, all entangled together and eventually crushed into mud by the following armored cavalry.

The hastily built gun formation of the Song army was gradually torn into a broken pocket.

Li Ziyuan ordered the military envoy to inform Yu Yunwen of the military situation while calling his trusted generals.

"Hou Qi!"

"exist!"

The scar on Li Ziyuan's mouth trembled violently. He raised his long sword and pointed at the golden-helmeted general who was seventy or eighty steps away.

"This thief must be Wanyan Liang. Kill him and this battle will be won!"

Hou Gaolang squinted his eyes and looked over there. The battlefield was already in chaos, and he could only gather less than a hundred crossbowmen around him.

There were too few crossbowmen, and at this distance they could not pose a threat to the heavily armored cavalry.

"Boss Li, how do we do this?!"

Li Ziyuan opened his mouth wide, as if he wanted to tear open the scar on his lip.

"I will personally lead three hundred soldiers to clear the way and stop the Jin thieves. The divine crossbows will follow behind and kill those slave boys when they are thirty steps away!"

"Tou Liu! But..." Hou Gaolang was shocked.

Except for a few experts, most of the troops in the army were commanded by officers to fire volleys. This kind of covering fire would inevitably cause a lot of accidental casualties in the melee between the two sides, after all, the crossbow did not have any laser aiming device.

"What's the big deal? Who's bigger, the cavalry or the infantry? We're fighting on foot. Unless you're a ruthless person, it's not that easy to die."

After saying that, Li Ziyuan did not wait for Hou Gaolang's response. He dismounted directly and called over 300 Song army soldiers, armed with long swords and axes, to rush forward.

However, Li Ziyuan did not rush to Wanyan Liang.

A group of more than 400 Jin army "armored soldiers" came forward to meet them.

Most of the Jin soldiers were incompletely armed, and most of them were just wielding the cavalry hammers they carried with them; their organization was not regular, and they even broke up their own ranks when they charged; they were also very weak, and most of the armored soldiers were injured.

However, it was this group of Jin troops that actually blocked the Song army's desperate attack.

Li Ziyuan was also wondering where these Jin soldiers came from, until he saw a Jin soldier charging into the battle with a cavalry spear, and then he suddenly realized.

These are armored soldiers composed of a mixture of cavalry and armored cavalry who have lost their horses.

Unlike Li Ziyuan's command banner, Wanyan Liang's Jinwu flag had too much appeal.

It was so large that even if it lost its organization and officers, the scattered Jin troops would still spontaneously gather towards the big banner, so Da Huaizhong was able to easily organize a troop of armored soldiers.

Moreover, this army of armored soldiers will definitely die in battle before Wanyan Liang without turning back!

After this delay, Wanyan Liang gathered another 500 cavalrymen and bypassed the Song and Jin armies from both flanks. With a single charge, he routed Hou Gaolang's crossbowmen. Without hesitation, Wanyan Liang charged into the ranks of Li Ziyuan's soldiers from the side and rear.

A standard hammer and anvil tactic was thus formed.

As the saying goes, "Use the regular to unite and the unusual to win." Under the double-sided attack, more than 300 soldiers of the Song army were defeated.

Li Ziyuan's flag was cut down and his life or death is unknown.

At this point, the Song army's front army was completely hopeless, but Wanyan Liang had no intention of stopping. His cavalry drove the defeated soldiers towards the central army where Yu Yunwen's flag was located.

Seeing their emperor so brave, the morale of the Wujie Army fighting in the rear of the Song Army was also greatly boosted.

"See it? See that big banner?" Pucha Shijie pointed at the Jinwu banners moving through the army and shouted to the soldiers beside him, "That's His Majesty! His Majesty has come in person! I have not let His Majesty down! His Majesty has not let me down!"

"My men, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show your face before His Majesty!" Pucha Shijie raised his long sword and galloped back and forth in front of the Jin army, shouting encouragement to his men: "If you don't fight now, when will you fight for a title, a wife, and children, and a long life of wealth and honor?"

Generals such as Tudan Sulie also encouraged their cavalrymen, giving them promises and rewards without hesitation. Even though these cavalrymen were exhausted, they were still full of morale and cheered.

"To die for His Majesty!"

The Jin army's armored cavalry summoned up their remaining courage, tightened their armor, and raised their weapons high.

"To die for His Majesty!"

Pucha Shijie shouted loudly and led the troops again, responding to the Jinwu flag and launching an attack on the central army where Yu Yunwen was.

However, thanks to the hard work of Li Ziyuan, Dai Gao, Zhang Xiaoyi, and even Zhang Zhen and Wang Qi who were further away, the central army where Yu Yunwen was located had already recovered from the chaos of the surprise attack.

Three thousand men lined up in an orderly formation, prepared for defense with the help of carts.

Logically speaking, the war had reached this point, and the casualties on both sides of Song and Jin had reached the limit that the feudal army could bear.

Especially the Song army, three or four of their commanding officers had died, they should have been frightened and collapsed long ago.

However, the central army remained as stable as a rock.

The reason was simple: Yu Yunwen's central army had two thousand armored soldiers and one thousand crossbowmen. Except for the cavalry, which was all handed over to Li Xianzhong, Yu Yunwen's most elite troops were all here.

These people were carefully selected by Yu Yunwen and Shi Jun. Almost all of them had a grudge against the Jin army for exterminating their entire family, and their fighting spirit was definitely not scarce.

Shi Jun was commanding in front of the formation, and the defeated soldiers poured into the formation through the reserved gaps. Yu Yunwen was in the formation, organizing and encouraging the defeated soldiers again.

In the midst of his busy schedule, Yu Yunwen looked to the side and saw that the Jingnan Army a mile away was not affected by the war and was still marching towards the foot of Guishan Mountain.

Yu Yunwen shook his head, then nodded, and said to the military envoy beside him: "Tell Shi Jun that a real man should stand tall and proud between heaven and earth. How can he be like a woman and rely on others? Whether General Liu comes or not, today's matter is a fight to the death!"

(End of this chapter)