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

Chapter 581 The Three Armies Capture the Spirit, the General Captures the Heart

Was the Taiping Army really that weak?
No, that's not true.

However, in the eyes of Geng Jing and other high-ranking officers of the Tianping Army, even if the Song army crossed the Huai River at Shanyang and marched north, and Liu Huai sailed down the river from Linyi, the Jin army group in Xuzhou would still have to leave 20,000 troops in Xuzhou as a precaution.

Otherwise, they will face a situation of being attacked from both sides.

Under these circumstances, Geng Jing left six thousand troops under Kong Duanqi and Shao Jin in Xucheng, and more than two thousand troops under Sun Hei on the flank for defense. How could they not hold out for some time if they were only defending the city?

Geng Jing personally led the main force of the Tianping Army, totaling 20,000 troops, through Bozhou to attack Daming Prefecture, which had been ravaged. How could they not take it in one fell swoop?

With our rear secure and our front vulnerable, victory is assured!
As Geng Jing had predicted, the main force of the Taiping Army advanced with unstoppable momentum.

First, there was Bozhou, which stood in their way. Wang Youzhi, the former military governor of Tianxiong Army and a native of the area, had long wanted to return to his hometown. He quickly made arrangements. When the main army set out, Wang Youzhi volunteered to be the vanguard. Bozhou responded enthusiastically, and the entire prefecture was soon liberated.

Geng Jing was overjoyed and quickly commanded his troops to advance westward, their forces heading straight for Yuancheng in Daming Prefecture.

Geng Jing originally thought that once the army arrived, they would be invincible.

Then... the Taiping army suffered a humiliating defeat at the gates of Yuancheng.

Daming Prefecture was an important town in Hebei that was built during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty. Like Pengcheng and Xiapi, it was a formidable city surrounded by rivers and had many fortresses. As long as the garrison in the city was determined to hold on, it was not so easy to attack.

In fact, the reason why Liu Huai was able to capture Xiapi so quickly was because Wei Sheng had left Liu Huai with enough political assets last time, so much so that the people and soldiers of Pizhou had a much better impression of the Loyal Army than of the Jin Kingdom.

When Wei Sheng first attacked Xiapi, even though he had the advantage of a surprise attack, he still suffered heavy casualties when attacking the Jin army's second-line troops with his regular field army.

Given Wei Sheng's martial prowess and status, the fact that he suffered such a serious injury speaks volumes about the difficulty of the war.

The saying "winning hearts and minds is the best strategy, winning armies is next best, and winning cities is the worst" perfectly illustrates this principle.

The simplest way to besiege a city is actually to launch a major battle, defeat the enemy's field army, and cause the enemy city's morale to collapse, forcing them to surrender without a fight.

This is the origin of many sieges and relief tactics.

However, the commanders of the enemy's main force are often very clever. They can cause the attacking side to be thwarted under the city's strong defenses, and then take advantage of the enemy's fatigue during the siege to launch a surprise attack with their main force.

That's how Yelü Xiuge beat Zhao Guangyi so badly he was reduced to a donkey cart drifting.

However, the Taiping Army was facing a situation that was neither of these two.

Although Yuancheng would not receive reinforcements, Daming Prefecture had already completed its general mobilization when Wanyan Liang personally led his troops to arrive. Even though they fought a fierce battle with Wanyan Liang's army, Wanyan Liang then led his troops to confront Heshilie Zhiningfang. The Yuancheng garrison suffered losses, but ultimately it was not on the verge of collapse.

Although both the Eastern and Western Jin dynasties were militarily exhausted, they simultaneously sought to gain control of Daming Prefecture through political means. Under these circumstances, Wanyan Liang dispatched Wanyan Shoudao, the Assistant Military Governor of Lulong Army, to Daming Prefecture.
The civil and military officials of Daming Prefecture, who had initially resisted Wanyan Liang, immediately appointed Wanyan Shoudao to take charge of the government upon his arrival.

Wanyan Shoudao lived up to expectations, quickly organizing the city's defenses and soon making Yuancheng as impregnable as an iron barrel.

Wanyan Shoudao's prestige was not only due to his outstanding abilities and mastery of both literature and martial arts, but also because he had a good grandfather.

Wanyan Xiyin, also known as Wanyan Gushen.

To Wanyan Liang's surprise, after taking control of Daming Prefecture for a few days, Wanyan Shoudao's first action was to organize his men and kill all the other officials sent by Wanyan Liang. He also sent a letter to Wanyan Yong requesting assistance.

Before Wanyan Yong could reply, Geng Jing's army had already arrived. Wanyan Shoudao had no choice but to brace himself and deal with the situation at hand.

Yuancheng truly lived up to its reputation as the defensive core of Daming Prefecture, an important town in Hebei. Surrounded by the Yongji Canal, although the Yellow River had changed its course and was no longer protected by it as it had been during the Song Dynasty, the Yellow River channel and dikes did not disappear into thin air, but instead became Yuancheng's natural low city wall.

After sending two rounds of envoys to persuade the surrender of Yuancheng, Geng Jing was finally abandoned the idea of ​​using diplomacy before resorting to force. He led his army to the city and the next day sent Zhang Anguo with 6,000 elite troops across the old course of the Yellow River to set up camp north of the city.

However, just after Zhang Anguo led a thousand soldiers across the dam, the city gates of Yuancheng were opened wide, and Wanyan Shoudao, wielding a long sword, rode at the forefront, leading three hundred cavalrymen to launch a surprise attack on Zhang Anguo, who had not yet established a firm foothold.

Zhang Anguo never expected that the Jin army would dare to launch a surprise attack. Caught off guard, his more than 1,000 infantrymen were routed before they could even form ranks. Many of them were chased by the Jin army and jumped off the embankment, falling onto the dry riverbed. Soon, cries of agony filled the air.

This is why the Yellow River completely stops flowing in winter. If it were summer, even a puddle only half a meter high would drown many Taiping soldiers.

Zhang Anguo was both shocked and furious, but he could only gather a little over a hundred soldiers, forming a small crescent-shaped formation to hold off the Jin army's offensive from the dike. Seeing this, Zhang Anguo's deputy general dared not delay and ordered his troops to cross the river quickly to aid his commander.

But at this moment, Wanyan Shoudao changed his fighting style. He personally led more than thirty armored cavalry to confront Zhang Anguo, while the rest of the cavalry dispersed and galloped back and forth on the embankment, shooting down the Tianping soldiers from higher ground and pinning them down on the riverbank, making it difficult for them to move.

Xin Qiji arrived at the south bank of the river at this time. Seeing the situation, he immediately ordered Xin Jingwei to continue commanding the army. He then personally led more than a hundred cavalrymen to the downstream to find a more suitable place to cross the river.

We must surround them from both the front and the rear, and wipe out this group of Jin bandits who have come out of the city to fight.

Otherwise, if the morale of the three armies is lost, it will be difficult to attack the city.

However, Wanyan Shoudao was no ordinary man. He was not fixated on killing the Tianping Army or beheading Zhang Anguo. Instead, after seeing the reinforcements arrive on the other side of the river, he sounded the horn, gathered his troops, and retreated towards Yuancheng.

Before leaving, Wanyan Shoudao didn't forget to point his sword at Zhang Anguo while laughing loudly, his provocation was all too obvious.

Zhang Anguo was both ashamed and angry. When he saw Wanyan Shoudao retreating, his anger finally overwhelmed his reason. He raised his spear high and charged out of the Crescent Moon Formation, shouting loudly.

"Jin traitors! Prepare to die!"

When Wanyan Shoudao saw that Zhang Anguo dared to pursue with only a dozen or so personal guards, he immediately realized that this was an opportunity. He quickly abandoned the rearguard action, stroked his long beard, reined in his horse, turned around, and led a dozen or so personal guards back to fight.

Seeing that Wanyan Shoudao underestimated him so much, Zhang Anguo was even more furious. He no longer cared about anything else and charged forward with his spear.

The warhorses galloped towards each other, approaching in the blink of an eye. The two sides only had a brief moment to exchange blows, and even the most skilled general could only use one or two moves.

But just one or two moves are enough to determine who is better, and even life and death.

Zhang Anguo thrust out his spear first, but Wanyan Shoudao's longsword struck first, hitting the spear shaft directly.

Zhang Anguo felt a strong force coming from his hand, and his tiger's mouth was in excruciating pain. He lost his grip on the spear and it fell to the ground.

In the midst of the two horses' clash, Wanyan Shoudao wanted to reverse his longsword and deliver a fatal blow to Zhang Anguo's back, but he was desperately stopped by Zhang Anguo's personal guards and had no choice but to swing his longsword to deal with the others first.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhang Anguo lay on his horse, broke out of the battle, and retreated to the rear.

Seeing this, Wanyan Shoudao did not give chase, but instead let out an even louder laugh, picked up Zhang Anguo's spear that had fallen to the ground with his long sword, held it in his hand, and raised it high.

Zhang Anguo looked back at the scene, his heart filled with resentment and anger. Coupled with the still numbness in his arms and the tightness in his chest, he felt dizzy and almost fainted on the spot.

Xin Qiji finally found a flat spot in the old course of the Yellow River, crossed the river, and led his personal guards over. What he saw from afar was the scene of 'Anguo losing his spear', and his heart sank.

"Fifth Brother, should we give chase?!" a guard asked loudly.

Xin Qiji gritted his teeth: "Chase! Even if it's too late, we have to make a show of it. Otherwise, that scoundrel Zhang Qi might spout some more nonsense!"

With that, Xin Qiji spurred his horse and galloped forward.

However, Wanyan Shoudao defeated Zhang Anguo in a single move, meaning that he didn't waste any time. Even if Xin Qiji pushed his warhorse to its maximum speed, how could he catch up?
In the end, Xin Qiji could only watch helplessly as Wanyan Shoudao charged into the gates of Yuancheng, and the Jin army on the city walls erupted in deafening cheers.

Even at this point, Wanyan Shoudao did not throw away Zhang Anguo's spear. Instead, he planted it on the side of the city gate and took a head of a Taiping soldier from his personal guard, then stuck the head on the tip of the spear.

Don't make the provocation too obvious.

Xin Qiji calmed down instead. He first carefully examined the Jin army on the city wall, and then simply led his personal guards to walk around the city, carefully identifying the banners of the Jin generals, and occasionally carrying a large shield close to the city wall to test them.

When Wanyan Shoudao arrived at the city wall and saw this scene, the smile on his face gradually faded, and his brows began to furrow.

There are still capable people in the Taiping Army.

This battle will not be easy.

(End of this chapter)