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

Chapter 618 The Han Army's Full Pay is Invincible

“Is this the right way?”

"Don't you trust me to lead the way, General? To tell you the truth, I used to be a salt smuggler, and I've traveled this road a thousand or eight hundred times."

"Are they all this damn narrow?"

"How could that be? Our smuggled salt isn't some small-scale operation where someone hides in sheepskin and carries a sack." It's a operation with seventy or eighty donkeys and more than twenty large carts, hauling salt to the Central Plains for sale. There's absolutely no problem with marching.

Yuan Qi used his knife to split open a low tree by the roadside, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then pointed to the weeds growing on the road: "Wei Dalang, you call this a good road?"

Wei Heng, a former salt smuggler, sighed and said, "General, this is just a private road after all. It hasn't been paved with rammed earth or weighed down with stones. As long as fewer people walk on it, it will naturally turn into this state."

"Shandong has become so chaotic in recent years that even salt smugglers can't survive, and the roads have naturally fallen into disrepair."

"But if you walk another three hundred steps, you'll reach an official road from the former Song Dynasty, which will be much easier to travel from there."

Seeing that Wei Heng was absolutely certain of his words, Yuan Qi had no choice but to nod in agreement.

After Yuan Qi volunteered for battle, he immediately set off with his more than four hundred new recruits, preparing to break out from the flank and give Kong Duanqi a surprise.

However, he underestimated the complexity of the Taishan mountain range.

There are too many gullies and ravines here, especially after the Yellow River breached its banks several times, which caused chaos in the Ji River system. Although Shandong is much better off with Mount Tai as a shelter, it is common for the gullies and ravines of the Mount Tai foothills to block the roads that were originally passable due to the mud and rocks brought by the floods.

As a result, Yuan Qi wandered further and further into the mountains, and after nearly 45 minutes, he still hadn't gotten close to the battlefield.

To put it more seriously, if it weren't for the locals guiding them, these hundreds of people might have been completely lost on the mountain road.

However, Wei Heng was quite capable. Although they took some detours, he still managed to lead Yuan Qi and the others safely around an unnamed mountain. After arriving at a small hill, Yuan Qi and the others suddenly heard shouts of battle clearly.

Yuan Qi grinned: "Great! Wei Dalang, you're really capable! You deserve the credit!"

Wei Heng chuckled, about to offer a few words of modesty, when he heard Yuan Qi urgently point at several captains and say, "You lot, count how many have fallen behind. Then quickly put on your armor and get some rest! You lot..."

Yuan Qi then pointed to several of his personal guards and said, "Come with me! Let's see what's going on?"

With that, Yuan Qi turned and walked toward the hill.

After climbing the small hill, Yuan Qi realized why the shouts of battle were so loud. It turned out that after passing through a small grove of trees at the foot of the hill, about a mile away, was the main battlefield between the Han army and the Dongping Prefecture rebels.

Without a second thought, Yuan Qi quickly climbed onto a large rock and surveyed the situation.

From their vantage point, the battle situation was crystal clear.

The Dongping army had set up a huge horizontal and diagonal formation. The right flank on the north bank of the Qinghe River in the distance was relatively thin, while the central army was lined with armored soldiers and had a thick formation. The left flank was incredibly solid.

Yuan Qi saw seven or eight flags belonging to officers of the rank of commander or above, and even the flags of Xiao En, the deputy commander of the Dongping Army, and Hu Yananxian, the commander of the Wucheng Army, appeared on the left wing.

After a rough count, and once it was clear that the left wing of the Han army numbered approximately four thousand soldiers, Yuan Qi quickly came to a conclusion.

I need to act quickly, otherwise the right wing of the Dongping Prefecture rebels will be crushed.

Wouldn't all my hard work of braving thorns and brambles and traveling through the mountains be in vain?
Yuan Qi grabbed Wei Heng's shoulder and shook him a few times, anxiously asking, "Brother Wei, do you know where we can join the battle directly?"

Wei Heng was dizzy from being shaken and waved his hand, saying, "General, where are you going to attack?!"

Yuan Qi realized he had lost his composure and immediately pointed to the right wing of the Dongping Prefecture rebels: "I'm going to break in from there and kill everyone under the banner. No matter who this Yang banner belongs to, as long as we can capture it, we'll be the greatest contributor!"

Looking at the more than two thousand rebels on the right wing of Dongping Prefecture, Wei Heng couldn't help but shrink back, feeling somewhat hesitant: "General, we only have a few hundred men, and we're exhausted. Wouldn't it be enough to just wave flags and shout in the grove to hold off the rebels? Why do we have to fight to the death?"

Yuan Qi glanced at Wei Heng and then said, "You just joined the Jingnan army. You don't understand. Different merits lead to different rewards."

I calculated that the credit for restraining the thieves, when divided among everyone, would amount to approximately five hundred coins, plus two mu of assigned land.

"But if we achieve the merit of slaying generals and capturing flags, we, a group of several hundred, will share the spoils, with each person receiving a reward of about three strings of cash, a bolt of cloth, and ten mu of assigned land..."

Upon hearing this, Wei Heng immediately perked up, rubbing his hands excitedly and saying, "General, if you had said this earlier, I would have understood!"

Wei Heng pointed to the woods on the left and said, "There's a small path there. I walked it just two months ago, and it's definitely safe. However, I'm afraid there might be bandits lying in ambush in these woods. If we can't catch them off guard, then something terrible will happen."

Yuan Qi pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "There won't be any ambush. Today's battle was rushed; if they had the time, they'd be better off figuring out how to hold off the enemy head-on." "Let's go!" Yuan Qi made up his mind and said to Wei Heng, "Lead the way! Today we're going to make a fortune!"

Yuan Qi returned to the foot of the hill and roughly counted his troops. He had about 350 or 360 men left, including about 100 light infantry, 100 armored soldiers, and 100 laborers carrying armor, long weapons, and large axes for the armored soldiers.

By this time, the armored soldiers had already donned their heavy armor, and the light infantry had prepared their weapons. Yuan Qi stood on a high place, preparing to give a pre-battle speech, when he heard Wei Heng shout loudly in a cheering tone: "The rules of the Commander-in-Chief! After beheading the general and capturing the flag, each of us will receive three strings of cash, a bolt of cloth, and ten acres of land!"

This simple and clear pre-battle mobilization was remarkably effective. The troops, composed of private soldiers and villagers from powerful families in Jinan Prefecture, were immediately roused and their morale soared.

It was quite like the Han army, with its full pay, was invincible.

This is quite normal, because whether they are private soldiers or peasants, they are all subordinates in a relationship of personal dependence. Even if powerful people treat them well in order to consolidate their rule, they would never allow them to control the means of production or to control a large amount of wealth.

They're always fighting and killing each other, so where are all the benefits?
Seeing this, Yuan Qi didn't waste any words and directly gave the order: "All the laborers stay behind to watch the mules and horses. The rest of you, armored soldiers in front and light infantry behind, will charge with me. As for any rewards or spoils, the laborers will take half, the officers will take double, and the rest will be divided equally!"

Leading two hundred soldiers with brimming morale, Yuan Qi followed the path to the edge of the grove. He drew his bow and arrows, and with a few swift shots, killed several cavalrymen. Then, he threw all the arrows to the ground, drew his twin swords, and shouted, "A man's chance to make a name for himself is now! Kill!"

After saying this, Yuan Qi took the lead, with more than a dozen personal guards, and charged into the Dongping Prefecture rebel army's formation from the flank. Behind him, more than two hundred soldiers charged with great momentum, and along the gap opened by Yuan Qi, they engaged in close combat.

A mile away, Hu Yananxian, observing the situation from a high point, frowned as he looked at the enemy's right flank, which had suddenly become chaotic, and asked, "What happened there?"

Xiao En disregarded his past grudges with Wu Chengjun and immediately recalled the military intelligence Wang Shilong had reported earlier: "It's Commander Yuan Qi; he's come out from the mountains!"

Shawn's excitement lasted only two seconds before he immediately said with some annoyance, "Why is this commander so impatient? He could have at least given a signal beforehand!"

He said this because, although the Han army's left wing was strong, it was slow to form ranks due to the mix of too many troops from different units.

Apart from Li Jinyi, who was engaged in direct combat, the Dongping Army and the Wucheng Army were almost completely mixed up.

Hu Yan Nanxian took a deep breath and said, "This is a golden opportunity! Let's not worry about anything else. You and I, the two chiefs, will join forces and push forward from the front!"

Xiao En was surprised that Hu Yananxian would propose such a plan, and asked in astonishment, "Aren't we going to reorganize the army?"

Hu Yananxian pointed to the military formation: "Most of the commanders haven't panicked, and the hundred-man squads haven't panicked either, which is enough. Chief Steward Xiao, you must trust those squad leaders and captains, and you must trust the results of this year's military training."

After saying this, Hu Yananxian ignored Xiao En and, carrying his banner, shouted as he charged forward.

Shawn hesitated for only a moment before gritting his teeth and doing the same thing.

The simultaneous advance of the two banners, 'Dongping' and 'Wucheng', instantly became an extremely clear signal.

The nearly four thousand Han troops, huddled on the left flank, immediately launched a fierce and relentless attack on the enemy forces in front of them.

With such a strong troop support, the enemy's right flank, which was already somewhat chaotic due to Yuan Qi's surprise attack, immediately lost two or three hundred men, and several gaps quickly appeared on the originally intact line.

Without waiting for anyone's orders, Wu Chengjun's generals Ji Cheng and Zeng Ji led their armored cavalry through the breach and cut the right wing of the Dongping Prefecture rebels into three or four sections, preventing the north and south from supporting each other.

Caught off guard, Yang Xing, the rebel general of Dongping Prefecture, made a grave mistake in his panic, ordering his personal guards to immediately go and maintain the front line.

Yuan Qi, who was having some difficulty due to being in the enemy lines, finally found an opportunity and charged directly under Yang Xing's banner.

Yuan Qi lived up to the reputation of being a killing machine, as certified by the veteran general Liu Qi. He not only personally cut down the banner with the character "Yang," but also personally dragged Yang Xing, who was wearing a red cloak, off his horse. Surrounded by rebels, he fought with him while dragging him to a high place. Then, in full view of everyone, he beheaded Yang Xing on the spot in an execution-like manner.

Faced with such a ferocious person, even Yang Xing's personal guards were terrified, either prostrating themselves to surrender or scattering and fleeing.

The right wing of the Dongping Prefecture rebels had now completely collapsed.

After breaking through the enemy lines, the Wu Cheng Army cavalry formed a scattered formation from the flanks and rear, driving the routed soldiers to attack the central army of the Dongping Prefecture rebels.

Even a united elite force would be thrown into disarray if caught off guard by a surprise attack on its flank, let alone the powerful allied forces of Dongping Prefecture.
It's fine when things are going well, but in this situation, can we really expect the powerful figures to be loyal to Kong Duanqi?
They even sold out Geng Jing!
The outer perimeter of the Dongping Prefecture rebel army's central command immediately collapsed. Under Kong Duanqi's horrified gaze, the routed soldiers and Han cavalry charged together to a position less than two hundred paces from the center of the central command.

Shao Jin drew his knife again and roared, "My head is right here, come and take it!"

With that, Shao Jin led his personal guards to turn to the south to meet the onrushing army from the right flank.

For the first time, Kong Duan felt a surge of immense regret, yet he still looked at the armored soldiers fighting against the Han army.

If Zhang Nan can break through the Dongping army's central force from the front, there might still be a chance to win this battle.

(End of this chapter)