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

Chapter 607 Intrigue and Internal Strife

"Chief Steward Xiao, I have come to ask you personally, when shall we advance?"

By the time Xin Qiji led the rearguard troops around the southwest corner of Pingyin City, Xiao Qi had already dealt with several groups of military envoys who came to urge him on.

It wasn't until Heshi Lieliangbi personally came to the front lines that Xiao Qi finally straightened up and offered an explanation.

"Prime Minister, the army has just fought a battle and is exhausted and in disarray. As the saying goes, sharpening the axe won't delay the work of chopping wood. Once the army is fully reorganized, we can pursue them directly without wasting much time."

Faced with Xiao Qi's sincere explanation, He Shilie Liangbi showed no mercy and directly exposed the other party's ulterior motives: "Do you want the Wu'an Army to fight the Tianping bandits so that the Shenwei Army can preserve its strength?"

Seeing that Heshi Lieliangbi had already spoken frankly, Xiao Qi stopped hiding his thoughts: "Wasn't it Gao Jingshan who was the first to sit back and watch the outcome? More than twenty elite cavalrymen fought against hundreds of infantrymen on flat ground, and they actually fought back and forth. I'm ashamed for him."

"Given that situation, either the Wu'an Army is a bunch of useless good-for-nothings, or they are preserving their strength." Xiao Qi frowned and said, "Left Prime Minister, don't be so biased. What, he can do it, but I can't?"

Heshi Lieliangbi sighed deeply, feeling somewhat annoyed.

It was wrong to leave Tudanzhen's three thousand Tudan clan soldiers in Xucheng to guard the rear.

As a result, when this figurehead faces military leaders, he can only rely on political means, and cannot use military means to exert pressure.

"I only have one question for you: when will you send out your troops?" Heshi Lieliangbi simply abandoned all verbal disputes and asked bluntly, "I also have my own explanation to Gao Jingshan. Now I only ask you, when will you send out your troops?"

Although Heshi Lieliangbi remained calm, how could Xiao Qi not know that this double Left Prime Minister was completely enraged? He couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine and immediately answered honestly, "Reporting to the Left Prime Minister, I need another quarter of an hour. After I have reorganized the troops and dealt with this little thief surnamed Ye, I will immediately pursue the main force of the Tianping bandits!"

He Shilie Liangbi nodded slowly: "General Xiao is a famous general in the world. It is one thing that he could not defeat Zhang Diwan of Dongping Army, but he could not even defeat Xin Qingsi of Tianping Army. However, he could use the excuse that Tianping Army was fighting like a cornered beast to cover up his defeat. If he could not even deal with a few hundred men of this little thief surnamed Ye, then it would be a real joke."

Xiao Qi had already heard these words once before, and he was somewhat furious at the time. But now his mindset was different, so his reaction was also different. He simply bowed slightly and then went to organize the troops.

However, Heshi Lieliangbi did not retreat to the rear, but stood in the position where Xiao Qi had just been the commander-in-chief, coldly scanning the surroundings as an overseer.

Under the watchful eye of the current Left Chancellor, no one dared to be perfunctory anymore. The cavalry quickly changed horses, rested and ate, while the infantry also hurried to straighten their ranks, replenish their arrows, and change their weapons.

Half an hour later, the Divine Might Army was ready and launched an attack on Ye Shichan, led by two Meng'an and nearly two thousand soldiers.

"Three-quarters of an hour! If we can hold out for just three-quarters of an hour, the army can retreat!" Ye Shichan paced back and forth in the formation, encouraging his personal guards.

He originally had nearly a thousand core troops, some of whom did not have time to cross the river and remained north of the Beiqing River; another hundred or so were too young and were sent away by Ye Shichan.

At this moment, there were only a little over five hundred people in this small Six Flowers Formation, but everyone was armored and each one was an elite soldier.

Moreover, their fighting spirit was tied to Ye Shichan's; it could be said that as long as Ye Shichan wanted to continue fighting, his personal guards would fight to the bitter end.

"Archers in front! Once you engage, retreat!" Ye Shichan shouted the order, then dismounted and slapped his horse hard on the rump.

With a neigh, the warhorse took off galloping away.

Seeing some people looking back in surprise, Ye Shichan laughed loudly a few times: "Today we live and die together, I will never abandon you and seek survival alone!"

The hundreds of infantrymen were immediately invigorated, and their battle cries shook the heavens.

Just as the Shenwei Army and Ye Shichan began their battle, Xin Qiji finally arrived at the east side of the city.

He rode his horse to a small hill, glanced at the surrounding area, and was immediately stunned.

Because at this moment, the Wu'an Army dared to give way and retreat to a mountainous position on the southeast side. Although they were still in a commanding position, ready to attack, they were indeed letting the Tianping Army leave.

Is this an attempt to cut off the enemy's tail, or is there infighting within the Jin army?
At this point, there was no time to think further. Xin Qiji led several hundred rear guard cavalrymen forward slowly, confronting the Wu'an army from afar.

Gao Anren looked down at the scene, stroking his still numb right hand, somewhat absentmindedly.

That bandit named Li Tieqiang was so powerful even though he was only a deputy general. I wonder what Xin Qiji, who was known as the "Great Blue Rhinoceros," must have been like.

There are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names. If Big Iron Spear is skilled with an iron spear, then isn't Big Blue Rhino even stronger than a rhinoceros?
"Second Brother." Gao Jingshan, seeing Gao Anren's expression, assumed he was upset about the losses and comforted him, "It's not your fault. I thought Xiao Qi would have some conscience, but I didn't expect him to try to harm his neighbors. You personally led the elite cavalry to distract them, and he actually dared to sit idly by and watch the outcome..."

Gao Anren blushed and said, "It is my incompetence that I failed to defeat the thousand-strong Tianping bandit with only two thousand elite cavalry."

Gao Jingshan waved his hand and said, "Don't say such things. Our Wu'an Army was originally meant to prevent the Tianping bandits from escaping from the east of the city. I was prioritizing the overall situation and sent troops to support Xiao Qi. How could that be wrong?"

At this point, Gao Jingshan became enraged again, pointing to the southwest and cursing loudly: "Damn Shenwei Army, they still haven't caught up. Does Xiao Qi intend to keep his troops around to breed?! Such shirking of state affairs, let's see how I deal with him!"

Gao Anren didn't agree, but looked at the receding Tianping army with some worry: "Uncle, are we just going to watch the Tianping bandits escape like this?" Gao Jingshan snorted coldly: "How could we? There are still Geng's old friends waiting ahead. They will block our way, and our Great Jin army will pursue and kill them. Don't chase a desperate enemy. Let those Han soldiers fight the hard battle."

Gao Anren nodded. Today's chaotic battle had left him completely bewildered. How could he have forgotten about the arrangements to be made later?
Xin Qiji gathered his troops and advanced, only secretly breathing a sigh of relief after leaving the Wu'an army's main formation by a mile.

It seems the Jin army really intended to pursue and kill them relentlessly. Did they not know that Liu Dalang had already marched into Jinan Prefecture? Or did they think Liu Huai would sit back and watch the tigers fight?
Regardless of the circumstances, as long as we can advance fifty or sixty li, we will be within the support range of the Jingnan army. At that time, the Jin army will pursue us, and we might be defeated by the Jingnan army in this narrow area surrounded by mountains and water.

Thinking of Liu Huai, Xin Qiji felt inexplicably at ease.

However, his heart jumped again the next moment, because a huge bonfire suddenly rose on the north bank of the Beiqing River.

This is Shi Baiju on the north bank signaling to the main force of the Taiping Army on the south bank, but only Shi Baiju himself knows what the specific signal is or what he discovered.

Meanwhile, on the north bank of the North Qinghe River.

"Quick! Quick! Burn everything that can be burned! Let the governor see clearly!" Shi Baiju commanded his soldiers, instructing them to throw all sorts of random things into the fire.

Because of the different perspective, Shi Baiju could see that smoke and dust were billowing in the mountains in front of Geng Jing, as if a large army was about to appear.

Meanwhile, the main force of the Taiping Army, due to obstructed vision and the chaos of the battlefield, had not deployed many scouts and was completely unaware of the obstacle ahead.

Covered in blood, Liang Atai, who was leading the way, also saw this scene after being reminded by his guards. He was panting heavily, so he reined in his horse and stopped, wanting to figure out what was happening, but he only heard the sounds of drums and horns and shouts of battle coming from ahead.

Subsequently, a large force of troops surged out from the intersection of the two hills.

Liang Atai stared intently at the two large flags at the head.

One side is 'Shao'.

The other side is a 'hole'.

The Taiping soldiers quickly recognized the two large banners and immediately realized who was behind them, and were immediately filled with a mixture of fear and anger.

Liang Atai was no exception. He stared with bloodshot eyes at the two large flags hundreds of paces away, and after a moment, he burst into laughter.

"Now that these two traitors are both here, it saves me the trouble of searching for them one by one!" Liang Atai shouted, raising his spear. "Come with me and kill these two bastards!"

"it is good!"

"kill!"

The more than 1,000 Tianping soldiers who served as the vanguard responded with shouts, and then, dragging their tired bodies, they launched an attack on the rebels.

As the commander of this rebel army, even with nearly 8,000 troops under his command, Shao Jin was still afraid when faced with Liang Atai's charge.

He wasn't afraid of these mere thousand exhausted soldiers, but rather of facing Geng Jing, of his former brothers-in-arms, and of those comrades who had once shared a pot with him.

I was afraid of their questions, afraid of their anger.

Seeing this, Kong Duanqi coldly said to Shao Jin, "Do we have any way out today? The powerful families of Dongping Prefecture have all stood with us, sending troops and resources to push you into this position. If you don't die for your cause, not only will the Great Jin not spare you, but the powerful families of Dongping Prefecture will tear you apart!"

Shao Jin was trembling violently, gritting his teeth as he looked around.

The powerful scions around him also turned to look at him.

In this rebel army, which was mainly composed of powerful local warlords, Shao Jin had no other choice.

Thinking of this, Shao Jin drew his sword, stared intently at the approaching banner bearing the character "Liang," and roared, "Liang Atai! Don't blame me for being ruthless! Who told you to block my path to wealth and power!"

"The troops advance in succession! First, kill Liang Atai! Then go and behead Geng Jing!"

Shao Jin had no way to turn back, so he went all out and dared to say anything.

Kong Duanqi, who was standing to the side, was completely relieved. He smiled and looked at the glaring banner with the character "Geng" on it, but he felt like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat.

Geng Jiedushi, Chief Geng, how can you live without dying?

(End of this chapter)