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

Chapter 605 Each Using Their Own Methods to Compete for Attention

The Wu'an Army moved with remarkable speed. After Gao Jingshan issued his order, twenty-seven strategists and two thousand five hundred armored cavalry surged from both flanks and converged on Gao Anren's location.

Subsequently, under Gao Anren's command, the Jin cavalry circled around the south of the city and then formed a defensive formation behind the Tianping army's main formation, threatening the Tianping army's left flank.

Li Tieqiang, who was on the left wing, immediately felt immense pressure.

Although the Wu'an Army's armored cavalry had only drawn their weapons but not yet unleashed them, it still caused a commotion on the left flank of the main formation. Hundreds of soldiers were pulled south and deployed in formation, using long spears and large shields for defense.

However, upon seeing this, Li Tieqiang was overjoyed and immediately grabbed his deputy general, saying, "Go into the city and personally find Geng Jiedu... or Zhang Qi, whoever is in charge, tell them to seize the opportunity and retreat to the northeast as soon as possible. Don't come back; go with them!"

Having said that, Li Tieqiang lowered his head, raised his huge iron spear, shouted, and led his personal guards to press towards the Wu'an Army's armored cavalry formation.

Soon, seven or eight hundred Tianping infantrymen broke away from the main formation, lined up in formation, and followed Li Tieqiang to approach Gao Anren.

Gao Anren was both shocked and furious, but he knew he could no longer hesitate.

Because behind him were the rugged foothills of Mount Tai, there was no room to maneuver. Wouldn't it be a joke if the cavalry were blocked at the foot of the mountain by the infantry?
Therefore, Gao Anren immediately dispatched armored cavalry to split into two groups and launch a counterattack.

"Hold your ground! Formation! Shields and spears in front! Archers, prepare!" Li Tieqiang shouted, and nearly eight hundred infantrymen stopped and began to change formation.

Soon, a square formation with spears on all sides was formed, with Li Tieqiang leading several dozen armored cavalry in the center.

The Jin cavalry launched a probing attack from the front, only to be met with a barrage of arrows and crossbow bolts. After abandoning more than a dozen warhorses, the Jin army's frontal assault failed.

The Jin cavalry, who had bypassed the flanks, were helpless against such a formation, like dogs trying to bite a hedgehog. They could only keep circling around, trying to find a gap in the strong formation.

Gao Anren rode his horse to the front of the formation and saw this scene, which made him click his tongue.

Li Tieqiang stopped in such a tricky spot that he was able to break free of the formation and advance about three hundred paces forward, a distance that was impossible to bypass.

If they bypass Li Tieqiang and forcefully attack the main force of the Taiping Army, they might end up being attacked from both sides.

However, Gao Anren also knew that Li Tieqiang's four-sided square formation had almost completely given up its offensive capabilities, and could only act as an immobile iron turtle. With a little more effort, they could eventually find a way to break through.

Just as Gao Anren was hesitating, he heard a loud drumbeat from the central command of the Tianping Army.

Gao Anren quickly stood on his horse, shading his eyes with his hand, and looked into the distance. He saw the blue rhinoceros banner of the central army of the Tianping Army suddenly rush forward and charge towards the banner of divine might representing Xiao Qi.

The battlefield was too chaotic. The only means of quickly transmitting information, besides flags, drums, and beacon fires, was the tacit understanding that came from years of fighting side by side.

After Li Tieqiang launched a counterattack, Xin Qiji immediately responded. He first pushed his main force forward and defeated a small group of Jin soldiers in front of him. Then, he personally led more than two hundred of his elite troops to launch a fierce attack on the central army of the Shenwei Army.

If it were up to Xiao Qi, the commander-in-chief of the Divine Might Army, he would most likely have launched a direct counterattack at this point.

However, since Heshi Lieliangbi was in the army, Xiao Qi could not allow the current Left Chancellor to be in danger. He immediately ordered the central army to hold firm, and then commanded the cavalry to flank from both sides, attempting to devour Xin Qiji in one fell swoop.

This naturally caused some chaos in the Shenwei Army's formation. Xin Jingwei, who was temporarily in command of the army, immediately seized this moment and ordered a full-scale counterattack.

Jia Rui on the right wing was the most daring and aggressive, and he actually defeated the Jin army on the opposite side in one fell swoop, and killed a Meng'an soldier in battle.

The Divine Might Army was thrown into chaos.

"Truly a hero of the world." Faced with such a predicament, Heshi Lieliangbi was not angry, but only sighed: "If we hadn't used some tricks and faced them head-on, even if our army could win, it would have taken a lot of effort."

Xiao Qi pulled on the reins, and his warhorse paced back and forth restlessly. "Left Prime Minister, now is not the time to talk about this. Let the Wu'an Army send more troops over. That Bohai brat Gao Anren is just shirking his duties. He has more than two thousand armored cavalry under his command, yet he just sits and watches our army fight. He's truly despicable!"

He Shi Lie Liangbi was not angry after hearing these barbed words. He just looked at Xiao Qi and asked coldly, "General Xiao, it is understandable that the Shenwei Army of more than 10,000 regular troops could not stand firm under the attack of Zhang Di's tens of thousands of troops. After all, Zhang Rong is a veteran general who has been famous for a long time, and the Dongping Army is also a strong army in the world that has been recuperating and strengthening its forces."

Do you really think that Xin Qiji, this greenhorn, with only a few thousand exhausted soldiers, can teach the Divine Might Army a lesson?

Xiao Qi's face flushed red, and then he personally spurred his horse forward: "Khitan warriors, follow me!"

The six hundred Khitan armored cavalrymen who served as Xiao Qi's personal guards responded at the same time, stood up at the same time, mounted their horses at the same time, and then pressed forward with Xiao Qi under the cold gaze of Heshi Lie Liangbi.

As the majestic banner drew ever closer, Xin Qiji wiped the blood and flesh smeared on his neck and then asked Xin Wenyuan behind him, "Ayuan! How many troops are left?"

Xin Wenyuan stood on his horse, turned around and counted: "More than one hundred and seventy left! That's enough!"

Xin Qiji shouted back, "That's enough! Follow me and kill the enemy!"

Then, Xin Qiji once again took the lead, wielding a heavy long spear, and charged forward at the forefront.

The morale of the Taiping Army was greatly boosted, and they fought fiercely forward.

The Divine Might Army was not to be outdone.

Originally, the Divine Might Army was somewhat flustered due to the hasty counterattack, but when they saw that Xiao Qi had led his personal guards out into battle, with the central army facing the central army and the generals facing the generals, and confronting the blue rhinoceros banner head-on, the Divine Might Army immediately rallied its spirits, abandoned all defensive measures, and also began to attack the Heavenly Balance Army.

The intensity of the war escalated dramatically in an instant; in a short period, the casualty figures on both sides exceeded the total of the previous half hour.

Both the Divine Might Army and the Heavenly Balance Army silently endured the heavy casualties. Both sides regarded offense as their only means. Whichever side could not hold on first would be completely defeated and would not even have the chance to regroup.

At the same time, seeing the two armies engage in a bloody battle, Gao Anren finally could not hold back any longer and began to issue orders: "Da Mingyi, you five strategists, dismount and fight on foot. I will personally follow up for you and break this turtle shell open for me!"

The military strategist, Da Mingyi, dismounted with a cold face, then gave Gao Anren a stern look before dismounting and forming ranks.

Gao Anren's face gradually turned ashen.

His abilities and character had become quite good after much training, but his seniority in the Wu'an Army was too low, making it difficult for him to gain the respect of the troops.

Gao Jie, the original top general of the Wu'an Army, had already been killed in battle by Zhang Xiaoyi in Chaoxian County. Now, Gao Jingshan seemed to be grooming Gao Anren to become the top general, which naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the other veteran generals in the army.

Especially for junior officers like Da Mingyi, who have been through many years of hard work, it's difficult to convince them without real military achievements.

Defeating Sun Hei alone was far from enough. But Da Mingyi and the others could only grumble in secret; after all, the Gao family name was Gao!
Gao Anren calmed himself down and then led the remaining armored cavalry to circle around from the left and right. The Jin army's usual infantry was in the center and the cavalry was on the flanks, forming a series of charging formations.

Da Mingyi led his armored soldiers forward for only about fifty paces before immediately regrouping and sending archers to fire at close range.

Li Tieqiang stared at the Wu'an army launching their general offensive, his heart unmoved. He glanced at the city wall again, then shouted, "Divide!"

The square formation, which had originally resembled a turtle shell, broke apart on its own. The drums beat rapidly, and spears, swords, and shields were deployed in coordination, quickly taking their positions.

The Taiping Army formed a unit of fifty men, with each unit forming a square formation. Sixteen small square formations formed a large horizontal formation. At the cost of abandoning any depth, they forcibly deployed eight hundred infantrymen to a width roughly equivalent to that of the two thousand-plus Wu'an Army.

"Enter!"

Such a sparse horizontal formation is unusable for defense. Li Tieqiang gave the order again, and the drumbeats became even more rapid.

"call!"

"drink!"

"Kill the thief!"

After shouting a few times, the Taiping Army, disregarding the disparity in troop strength, advanced in a horizontal formation.

The vanguard quickly engaged the enemy. Da Mingyi was shocked and furious. Ignoring that the formation was not yet fully reorganized, he personally charged forward, hoping to overwhelm the Taiping Army with his overwhelming numbers and break through directly from the center.

Gao Anren was even more shocked, because cavalry was different from infantry. Infantry could stand firm on their own two legs, while cavalry required knights to command their warhorses to maintain their formation.

Compared to humans, even the best-trained warhorses are still just beasts and fools. Therefore, the speed of a cavalry formation is much slower.

Gao Anren was outnumbered, and generally no one would dare to interfere with a change in formation on the battlefield. However, he did not expect Li Tieqiang to be so brave and decisively seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

There was no time to think further; they absolutely could not allow the Taiping infantry to reach them.

Because there are rugged hills behind them, the armored cavalry will have no room to maneuver and will inevitably suffer heavy casualties.

Gao Anren turned and looked at the hundred or so armored cavalrymen who had been organized, and raised his spear: "Gao Yun, you stay here and continue to organize the troops! Tu Danhong, come with me! Stop the enemy army!"

After saying this, Gao Anren ordered the flag bearers to follow him closely, circle around from the west side, hastily form a battle formation, and then suddenly attack Li Tieqiang's flank.

Seeing that the two groups of about a hundred Taiping infantrymen slowed down and turned to deal with the situation, causing the entire Taiping army's horizontal formation to stagnate, Gao Anren finally grinned maliciously.

Today we will crush you! Roll up the beaded curtain and charge into the Taiping Army's formation!

However, at the same time, Li Tieqiang also smiled.

"Mount up!" Li Tieqiang shouted, then pointed his iron spear forward: "Today, we will slay the Jin bandit leader right here!"

His more than sixty guards responded at the same time, mounted their horses, and shouted to kill the bandits.

Subsequently, Li Tieqiang led more than sixty armored cavalrymen to bypass the Tianping Army's horizontal formation and head straight for Gao Anren.

Li Tieqiang's cavalry force was small, numbering less than a hundred. To attempt a head-on charge or circling archery against the twenty-odd Jin cavalrymen under his command was like a beggar trying to outdo the Dragon King—a suicidal endeavor.

Therefore, he always had his personal guards lead the warhorses and hide behind the infantry, so that he could strike out at this moment and kill the invading general.

Gao Anren's gaze sharpened as he saw the sudden appearance of the elite cavalry of the Taiping Army, and his heart sank.

But by this time, the armored cavalry had already accelerated and started galloping at high speed; there was no way to retreat.

"Charge them head-on! Charge them in front of them!" Gao Anren shouted, then put down his sling, grabbed his spear, and charged towards Li Tieqiang, also intending to capture the leader first.

With one hundred against sixty, the advantage is mine!
However, war is not simply a matter of comparing numbers; otherwise, there would be no need to fight. We could just bring out our troops, compare numbers, and the side with more troops would declare victory on the spot.

Although Li Tieqiang's horsemanship was not particularly outstanding, he possessed incredible strength and was adept at using heavy weapons like iron spears.

Faced with Gao Anren's exquisite spear skills, he didn't bother to counter his moves. Seizing the opportunity, he swung his iron spear in a wide arc and smashed it into the shaft of Gao Anren's spear, knocking the spear from his hand to the ground.

While Gao Anren's hands were numb and his mind was still blank, the two horses crossed paths, and Li Tieqiang's iron spear, still full of momentum, swung directly at the head of Gao Anren's warhorse.

Gao Anren's warhorse was also a fine steed, but even the best warhorse cannot perform the Iron Head Technique. After taking such a heavy blow, it fell to the ground without even neighing, and Gao Anren on the horse's back rolled all over the ground like a gourd.

The flag bearer following behind Gao Anren was about to offer his assistance when Li Tieqiang appeared before him. In the blink of an eye, the flag bearer could only raise the flagpole to shield his chest.

Li Tieqiang laughed loudly, his helmet slammed down, revealing only a pair of murderous eyes. He used the same trick again, swinging his iron spear in a wide arc and smashing it down.

The flagpole, as thick as an arm, snapped in two, but the iron spear, still powerful, struck the Jin army's flag bearer in the chest.

Even though the Jin army's standard-bearer was wearing heavy armor with amazing defensive capabilities, a huge dent appeared in his chest, and blood gushed from his mouth and nose. His helmet was filled with blood, as if a ripe tomato had burst open.

"I, Li Tieqiang, have slain a great general of the Jin invaders!" Li Tieqiang snatched Gao Anren's banner, waved it left and right twice to show it off, and then threw it heavily to the ground: "Heroes of the Taiping Army! Follow me to kill the traitors!"

The morale of the Tianping Army soared, while the Wu'an Army began to panic. Despite having a three-fold numerical advantage, they were being overwhelmed. Not only could they not maintain their lines, but even the armored cavalry on both flanks, who had originally intended to create distance for their charge, were forced into a rout after Gao Anren's banner was cut down.

Just as Li Tieqiang was about to press on, he heard a huge commotion in Pingyin City behind him, and his heart began to race with inexplicable panic.

After he scatters the Jin army in front of him, he stands on his horse and looks back, only to see that the south gate is already wide open.

Countless Taiping soldiers poured out of the city, not to support the battlefield, but to run wildly northeast without looking back.

Li Tieqiang's heart sank.

(End of this chapter)