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

Chapter 5: Being driven like a dog or a chicken

The chief officer of the Jin army here was a marching commander named Zhang Yu.

In the Jin army's Meng'an and Mouke system, 100 men made up a Mouke, 1,000 men made up a Meng'an, and 10,000 men made up a Wanhu. Logically, as a marching Meng'an, Zhang Yu should have been in charge of ten Moukes.

But the same thing still applies: the Yellow River flood area at the southern end of the two routes in Shandong is too vast, making it difficult to attack and defend.

It should be noted that the most direct impact of the Yellow River flood is agricultural production. Once the most basic farming is destroyed, the population of the agricultural society will inevitably decrease significantly.

There are only a few villages from Lianshui to Qushan County, the capital of Haizhou, two hundred miles north. The population is so low that even civilians cannot be recruited on weekdays. Let alone fortresses, there are not even any large towns.

If we really put a few Meng'an in Lianshui, the Song army would not have to attack, as they would soon starve to death.

Therefore, Zhang Yu was appointed as a general by Meng Tian, the commander-in-chief of the Wuxing Army, and led three Moukes here to suffer punishment.

Although Zhang Yu was extremely reluctant and felt aggrieved, he had no choice but to mobilize the troops from Haizhou to the front line of the confrontation between Song and Jin under the military order.

Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, personally led most of the Wuxing Army westward to Bianliang, where he joined forces with Tushan Zhen's troops and headed straight for the Xuyi Army, waiting only for Wanyan Liang's order so that the army could march south to attack the Song Dynasty.

Zhang Yu had no control over the major strategies, but on the way from Haizhou to Lianshui, some of the recruited soldiers died or fled, forcing him to forcibly recruit Han people from the dilapidated Lianshui County again.

Who would have thought that among the hundreds of recruited soldiers, there would be so many troublemakers?
"Don't panic!" Zhang Yu walked out of the tent while tying his leather belt and shouted at his subordinates: "Send someone to tell Wang Xian that if he doesn't arrange his Mouke in battle array within five days, you will skin him alive!"

After saying this, Zhang Yu pointed at the entrance to the Qian army camp and turned to a man beside him and said, "Saba, take a few people on horseback to block that place. Bring plenty of torches. Do you know how to do it?"

The tall man named Pushan Saba nodded immediately, called out to the seven or eight commoner warriors around him, and then said hesitantly, "General, since someone is attacking the camp, your safety..."

"I'm in no danger!" Zhang Yu said nonchalantly. "They only set fire but didn't shout to kill. If there are more than ten thieves, I'll dig out my eyes and feed them to the dogs. Go and stop the soldiers quickly. It's easy to find a horse if it runs away, but how can you find a person if he runs away?!"

Pushansaba nodded immediately, led the war horses tied beside the tent, each of them took up their weapons, and rushed side by side towards the gate of the chaotic army camp.

When the chaos broke out, the vast majority of the signed troops did not flee immediately, but instead ran around the camp like headless flies.

Because of widespread malnutrition in those days, almost everyone suffered from night blindness. Even if one or two smart people knew that this was a good time to escape, they could not find the camp gate among the crowds of people.

Although the burning firewood thrown in through the fence by Liu Huai and others could not guide the soldiers, it made these Han civilians instinctively want to stay away from the flames. With people pushing and shoving each other, the soldiers found the direction to escape and began to cry and rush towards the gate.

Just at this moment, Pushan Saba arrived at the gate. He held a torch in his left hand and a long sword in his right hand. He couldn't help swallowing as he looked at the crowd of soldiers.

There were only eight people on his side, while the opposing army had a thousand men. The disparity in numbers was so great that the nine riders were like a small boat in a big river, which could capsize in an instant.

But Pushanshaba did not retreat but advanced, and shouted and pressed forward side by side with the other eight riders.

He knew that if he didn't nip this chaos in the bud, once a major commotion like a camp roar really broke out in the army, not to mention his nine riders, even ninety riders would be swept up in the camp roar and become part of the chaos.

Pushan's decisive action really shocked the soldiers. Not to mention the knights on horseback, just the nine horses marching side by side and neighing constantly were a huge deterrent.

Under the light of torches, the Jin army drew out their long swords and slashed at the approaching soldiers. The blood made the soldiers calm down quickly. The men in the front row stopped and wanted to retreat, but the men in the back had no idea what was happening in front and continued to rush forward shouting.

Nearly two hundred Han soldiers formed a large lump in front of the camp. Pushanshaba, holding a head stuck on the tip of his long sword, raised it high and drove his horse forward steadily: "Kill!"

"kill!"

"kill!"

The other eight golden riders shouted at the same time.

Under the pressure of the elite cavalry of the Jin army, although the Qian army had an absolute advantage in numbers, it was leaderless and was suppressed by the Jin cavalry in momentum. Driven by fear, the thousand men gradually fell silent.

Zhang Yu, looking at the battle situation from afar, breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhang Yu was now surrounded by only five personal guards. He cast a fierce glance at the fire in the rear camp, then, suppressing his anger, said to his personal guards, "Forget about the collar and shoulder armor. Once you've put on your breastplate and helmet, bring my horse!"

It wasn't that he wasn't anxious, but because being anxious was pointless. The rear camp was already in such a state, everything that could be burned had already been burned. Although he was the general of an army, in such chaos, it was impossible for him to convey his orders.

Although it was dark, windy and firey, Zhang Yu's calmness still gave the Jin army some confidence. Many Jin soldiers who hurried out of the tents looked up and saw their own Meng'an putting on his armor in front of the tent, and they couldn't help but calm down.

Just as the camp was gradually becoming calm, Zhang Yu suddenly discovered that several riders suddenly jumped out from the fire in the rear camp and rushed silently towards the gate of the army camp.

"Hurry up and follow me!"

Years of battlefield experience had led Zhang Yu to immediately guess that these riders were the culprits behind tonight's chaos. Rage surged within him, and without further ado, he immediately mounted his horse, skirted the wooden fence of the small camp, and charged after the riders.

Logically speaking, the most important thing Zhang Yu should have done at this time was to find a high platform with bright lights so that the soldiers from all directions could see him. The power of one person on the battlefield is always limited. Although Zhang Yu is considered a fierce general, how many enemies can he kill alone?

If they could gather a whole mouke (a team of a hundred men), wouldn't it be faster for Zhang Yu to go into battle himself?

But as a low- to mid-level military officer, it was his duty to lead the troops to the front line. How could Zhang Yu tolerate seeing the enemy moving in front of the camp?

The five Jin army guards were just stunned for a moment, and before they could persuade them, they reflexively mounted their horses, each holding a long spear and galloping after their own Meng'an. Even the flag bearer reflexively raised the Meng'an flag.

However, Zhang Yu's move startled Wang Xian, who had just assembled half of his army and only more than 30 people. He also reflexively led his subordinates to rush forward, wanting to meet the enemy before Zhang Yu.

However, Wang Xian forgot that as the commander-in-chief, everyone was following his flag.

Since he moved, the Jin army that had gathered but not formed a battle line was thrown into complete chaos. Some wanted to continue to form a battle line, while others followed Wang Xian's Mouke flag and moved forward. The originally spacious passage between the camps instantly became crowded.

When encountering a surprise attack at night, any slight mistake in the action will lead to many inexplicable situations. Wang Xian’s mistake is naturally understandable.

However, Zhang Yu, who was blocked, could only rein in his horse and slow down, and watched helplessly as those riders rushed into Pushansaba's cavalry from a tricky angle.

Until then, a thunderous roar rang out.

"I am Liu Huai, a Han Chinese! Death befall the Jin thieves!"

(End of this chapter)