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

Chapter 606 Loyalty and Righteousness Are Hard to Distinguish Between Treachery and Evil

There are some things to consider when retreating.

This is especially true when retreating in the face of battle.

Although Li Tieqiang wanted Geng Jing to retreat quickly to the northeast, he definitely didn't want a chaotic, reckless advance.

Don't we need to cover each other during the retreat? Don't we need to guard against ambushes? Don't we need to defeat the Wu'an army that is blocking our way?

The army is stronger than the rioters because they are organized violent groups. Conversely, if they lose their organization, even 10,000 people can be overwhelmed by 100.

Zhang Anguo is a piece of trash!
Li Tieqiang cursed inwardly, but still felt somewhat helpless.

At this point, the situation had no longer been under his control.

Li Tieqiang focused all his attention on the enemy troops in front of him, hoping to defeat these Wu'an soldiers in one fell swoop and thus free up his hands to support Xin Qiji.

However, the commotion in the city inevitably attracted the attention of the Taiping Army outside the city. When the ordinary soldiers discovered that the army in the city was not coming out to support them, but was fleeing in the opposite direction, their morale inevitably wavered.

The once-unstoppable Taiping Army was immediately alarmed, and this shock quickly spread to Xin Qiji's troops, causing the entire army's offensive to stall.

Of course, it would be inaccurate to say that the Taiping army in the city had already let the sheep graze freely.

At least at the east gate of Pingyin City, where Xin Qiji and Li Tieqiang could not see, more than two thousand elite Tianping troops had already been assembled.

At the same time, Geng Jing, who had regained consciousness, was still pale, but he ignored Zhang Anguo's advice and personally put on heavy armor, holding a long sword and standing at the forefront of the army.

"Commander!" Zhang Anguo said anxiously, "Brother Xin Wu and Big Iron Spear are still fighting in the west. Should we send reinforcements?"

Geng Jing's cheek twitched slightly, but he remained silent.

Liang Atai also spoke up, saying, "Commander, how about I lead my personal guards to support Fifth Brother and the others?"

Geng Jing slowly turned his head and looked at Liang Atai, saying, "Wang Youzhi betrayed me, Kong Duanqi betrayed me, and Shao Jin also betrayed me. Are you going to betray me too?"

Liang Atai looked up in astonishment, and instantly panicked, scrambling to his feet.

He had no idea why Geng Jing was so suspicious, and he couldn't understand why Geng Jing would be suspicious of him, let alone why Geng Jing would be suspicious of Xin Qiji and others who were still fighting.

However, for Geng Jing, this was a period of great collapse of his worldview.

Wang Youzhi was just an outside general, so it was one thing.

Kong Duanqi was Geng Jing's chief strategist and also the person in charge of civil affairs.

Shao Jin was originally Geng Jing's personal guard and was a trusted confidant.

Both of these men were highly trusted by Geng Jing, as evidenced by the fact that when Geng Jing led his army on expeditions, he assigned one of them, a civil official and the other a military officer, to guard his hometown of Dongping Prefecture.

In theory, who is more loyal than these two?

If these two have betrayed us, who else can't betray us?
Who knows whether Xin Qiji, Li Tieqiang, and Ye Shichan were actually blocking the enemy army, or using the pretext of fighting the Jin invaders to gather troops and escape?

Geng Jing's ulterior motives were naturally not known to outsiders, so he stopped talking after a brief exchange and simply looked up at the large formation that the Wu'an Army had already set up.

Liang Atai's face was pale and uncertain. After a long while of changing expressions, he finally dismounted and knelt down: "Since the commander suspects me, then I, Liang Atai, volunteer to be the vanguard! To shake the Jin bandits' formation!"

Without waiting for Geng Jing's reaction, Liang Atai led his troops to form a battle formation at the forefront.

Zhang Anguo hesitated, then looked towards the south of the city: "Commander, should we gather those troops together?"

Geng Jing looked at Liang Atai, who had begun to press forward, and his expression softened slightly, but he still shook his head and said, "It's too late. Let them follow behind me, and I will personally fight my way through them!"

Having said that, Geng Jing took the lead and personally led his elite troops to launch an attack on the Wu'an Army, following Liang Atai.

Whether to prove something or out of spite, Liang Atai had completely lost his mind. He personally led hundreds of soldiers to charge at the forefront, without even making any basic probing moves, and charged into the enemy lines with various long and short weapons, engaging in close-quarters combat with the Jin army.

Gao Jingshan had not expected that the Taiping Army could launch such a swift counterattack at this point, and he immediately became flustered.

Gao Anren led all of Wu'an Army's elite cavalry to the east of the city, so Gao Jingshan could only have his infantry form a large formation and fight head-on.

"Report!" A military envoy from the Wu'an Army came to report: "General, General Gao led his troops in a bloody battle against the Tianping rebels, and the Shenwei Army did not fight to the death!"

"What?" Gao Jingshan's expression changed, and he forcibly pulled his gaze away from the battle in front of him, a different thought suddenly welling up in his mind.

The Divine Might Army was personally supervised by Heshi Lie Liangbi, so why did they go through the trouble of not putting in their full effort?

Thinking of this, Gao Jingshan's face became even more unpleasant.

Because he suddenly realized that, given the enormous losses suffered by the Jurchen people, suppressing the Khitan people was politically correct, and suppressing the Bohai people was even more justifiable!
"Quickly tell Gao Erlang not to be so stubborn as to throw all his capital in!" Gao Jingshan said to a guard. "In the current situation, we must protect ourselves!"

The guards hurriedly rode away. By this time, Gao Jingshan's mindset had completely changed.

When the nation and the Bohai people are one, I can contribute to the nation, and even prioritize the greater good over my own interests.

When the interests of the two sides conflict, it is absolutely unacceptable to let one's own people fill the pit of the Jin Dynasty in vain, so as to save the Khitans and Jurchens!

Why? !

The will of the commander-in-chief is related to the morale of the entire army. When the commander-in-chief began to waver, the Wu'an Army's counterattack naturally weakened, and Liang Atai's mere few hundred men managed to disrupt the formation.

On the other side, the guards found Gao Anren, who was in a disheveled state. Before they could speak, they glanced at the battlefield in the distance.

The guards were then enraged.

As expected, the Divine Might Army did not exert any effort. Facing Xin Qiji's thousands of troops, they actually maintained a defensive formation, which was simply outrageous.

Where are the Shenwei Army's cavalry? Why aren't they being deployed to encircle them? Are they relying solely on the Wu'an Army's cavalry?
After hearing Gao Jingshan's military order, Gao Anren remained silent for a long time.

What could he say?

It can't be said that because he was careless and underestimated his enemy, he was almost successfully beheaded by Li Tieqiang, and only escaped thanks to the desperate rescue of his personal guards, right?

We can't say he's lost all his power, can we?

"Your subordinate obeys!" Gao Anren immediately gave the order, leading his troops to gradually disengage from the battle and retreat.

Li Tieqiang was also extremely exhausted. His 800 elite troops had suffered nearly 200 casualties. Seeing this, he did not continue the pursuit, but instead took the opportunity to disengage from the battle and began to regroup.

Seeing this scene from afar, Xiao Qi, the commander of the Divine Might Army, sneered and said to his confidants, "I knew this Bohai brat had ill intentions. More than twenty elite cavalrymen from the Mouke Army couldn't even handle a few hundred Tianping bandits. It's a huge joke."

Since Gao Jingshan wants to preserve his strength, let's not be stubborn and fight to the bitter end!

Wendun Qizhi listened from the side and quickly agreed. He then returned to his own Meng'an and ordered another retreat, adopting a complete defensive formation.

Given the state of the Jin army, it can only be said that Li Tong and Liang Su truly deserve their titles as prime ministers; they have a clear understanding of the internal situation of the Jin state and can see it clearly.

The Jin army in Xuzhou was forcibly united, and their political stances were different. At this time, the Jin state had split into two parts, east and west. As long as they were kept calm, the 30,000 households in Xuzhou would split internally.

Heshi Lieliangbi could manage to unite them for a while, but how could he possibly keep them working together forever?

He was just the Left Chancellor, not the Emperor of the Jin Dynasty!
Besides, there are two emperors in the Jin Dynasty now!

As the saying goes, "ducks are the first to know when the river warms in spring," and the first to sense the slowdown in the Shenwei Army's offensive was Xin Qiji, who was personally leading the charge at the forefront.

Of course, he was unaware of the intricacies within the Kim family.

Xin Qiji thought he had finally hurt the Jin army, so he quickly slowed down his offensive.

Today, it is not that the Taiping Army is going to fight a decisive battle with the Jin Army, but that the Taiping Army has been ambushed by the Jin Army and has no choice but to deal with their moves and break through the encirclement while fighting.

Now that we have the opportunity, we should try to find a way to evacuate.

"Wulang!" Ye Shichan, who had been conserving his strength for a long time, rode up and shouted, "I'll cover the rear. You take the army and retreat quickly!"

Xin Qiji looked at the hundreds of soldiers behind Ye Shichan, wiped his face with his robe, and then said, "Then what are you going to do? The Jin invaders have more than ten thousand troops. How can you possibly hold them off?"

Ye Shichan laughed: "If this place is too bad, I'll just run into the mountains. I don't believe that the Jin thieves can catch up with me in the mountains with their four legs."

Xin Qiji nodded, unable to say more at this moment, and could only cup his hands and nod heavily: "Second Brother Ye, take care!"

With that, Xin Qiji turned his horse and rode away.

"Goro! That kid Baiju is a promising talent. Keep an eye on him in the future."

Hearing the words behind him, Xin Qiji dared not turn around and simply nodded haphazardly.

Nestled against mountains and beside water, isn't that a good place to be buried?

Xin Qiji immediately organized his troops to begin the retreat. A few who were unable to leave simply returned to the city or fled into the mountains. Before long, Xin Qiji had reunited with Jia Rui and Li Tieqiang.

All three were covered in blood from their heavy armor and panting heavily, yet they all turned back to glance at Ye Shichan, who was arrayed in the road, without saying a word.

Subsequently, the entire army, numbering several thousand, moved together and marched northeast.

Now, as long as the Wu'an Army blocking the way is defeated, the entire Taiping Army can escape victoriously along the Beiqing River.

Heshi Lieliangbi watched this scene in silence, then glanced at the majestic banner in the distance, and at Xiao Qi, who was using the excuse of reorganizing his troops to avoid immediate pursuit. A sense of weariness inexplicably rose in his heart.

With the nation in such a state of decline, has even the most elite regular army of the Great Jin become like this?
If the Jin Dynasty's regular army has already degenerated to this extent, what will become of the Jin Dynasty's fate?
(End of this chapter)