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

Chapter 625 The Invasion of the Barbarians Leaves the People in a Dire Situation
As one of the leading figures of the third generation of military men in the Jin Dynasty, Jia Gu Qingchen was not a pure military man.

The Jin Dynasty was a semi-tribal, semi-feudal system. Therefore, in the Jin Dynasty, regardless of the position, military power was the most important. As a result, the important ministers of the state were often generals.

This trend was not limited to non-Han officials; Han officials were the same.

The most typical example is Su Baoheng, who is already dead. His official position was Minister of Works, but he also served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.

There's also Li Tong. When Wanyan Liang was on his southern expedition, besides being prime minister, his most important position was the deputy commander of the left army.

To put it in an inappropriate way, this was a unique phenomenon of the Jin Dynasty, where generals became ministers.

Returning to Kiyotomi Kagaya, although he came from a military aristocracy, he did not only learn martial arts and command troops, but also had to learn how to govern local areas.

In this process, he will naturally come into contact with Han Chinese culture and apply Han Chinese methods of governance, and his thinking will naturally become more Sinicized.

Therefore, he understood all too well the ruthlessness of what Liu Huai was about to do.

More importantly, in the foreseeable future, Liu Huai is very likely to actually be able to do it.

Should we let Wanyan Liang and Wanyan Yong shake hands and make peace, with one becoming emperor and the other the executive vice emperor?

How can it be?

The Jin dynasty would inevitably weaken from internal strife and would inevitably face a united attack from the Han people. Whether it could preserve its rule at that time was truly uncertain.

After the fall of the Jin Dynasty, what would become of the Jurchens, or rather, this civilization that had only been established in Liaodong for a few decades? Wouldn't it be left to Liu Huai to decide what to do?
This person must be eliminated here!

Jia Gu Qingchen hardened his heart. He was still somewhat confident in his skills. He believed that as long as he could rush in front of Fei Huzi, he could suppress him.

This idea only lasted until the moment the two clashed.

At that moment, Jia Gu Qingchen felt the immense force in his hand and forcibly stabilized his slightly numb hand. He finally realized why so many generals had fallen to Liu Huai.

This is an all-around general, whose personal combat skills are top-notch. How could he be easily defeated by a single person on horseback?
"You're courting death!" Liu Huai grinned maliciously, swung the Liquan Spear, and smashed it down with all his might.

Jia Gu Qingchen used his longsword to block the attack, then held the sword upside down and thrust it towards Liu Huai's head.

Liu Huai reached out and grabbed the hilt of the sword, then twisted it forcefully, trapping the back of the blade under his armpit and securing it with his breastplate and arm guards. With a roar, Liu Huai used his legs, waist, back, and arms to wrest the long sword from Jia Gu Qingchen's hand.

The two were so close that their horses didn't pick up speed when the fighting began, and they were immediately plunged into a chaotic melee.

Kiyotomi Kagaya gripped his long sword tightly with both hands, trying to snatch it back, but was pulled off his horse and stumbled.

Knowing he was no match for Liu Huai in a wrestling match, he quickly let go and then, taking advantage of the situation, pulled out a bronze mace from beside the saddle and, gritting his teeth, swung it at Liu Huai's forehead.

This is going to be a real blow; even heavily armored soldiers are doomed.

But Liu Huai had already anticipated this move by Jia Gu Qingchen. He also released the blade he had been holding under his arm, bent down to dodge the bronze mace, and at the same time, spurred his horse's flanks with both heads, causing the warhorse to leap forward two steps.

After the two separated, Liu Huai turned his spear and thrust it from behind, using his body as cover. In an instant, an extremely tricky backhand spear was formed, the spearhead pointing straight at Jia Gu Qingchen's face.

As Kiyotomi Kagaya saw the spearhead rapidly enlarge in his vision, he was terrified and reflexively turned his head to dodge. Although he narrowly escaped the attack, the spearhead still pierced through the gap in the armor plates along the curled-up neck.

"Hahaha, you bastard, how come you look like an egg?!" Liu Huai picked up Jia Gu Qingchen's helmet, put his spear away, and didn't forget to mock the other's bald head.

Liu Huai's next words turned fierce again: "I'll turn you into a hard-boiled egg right now!"

Having said that, Liu Huai shook his Liquan spear, threw the helmet off the spearhead aside, and thrust it at Jia Gu Qingchen's head again. At this point, having lost his long weapon and only having a bronze mace in his hand, Jia Gu Qingchen finally painfully admitted a fact.

If the fighting continues like this, he might very well be killed by Liu Huai here.

While Liu Huai and Jia Gu Qingchen were fighting each other with their personal guards, their armored cavalry had already assembled and launched a charge to support their commanders.

In this situation, neither side could leisurely use arrows to provoke the enemy formation, nor could they employ any other random tactics; they could only charge head-on.

The two sides of armored cavalry were about two hundred paces apart, a distance just enough for them to accelerate to full speed. When the sound of hooves and shouts of battle reached their peak, the two sides of cavalry clashed head-on.

Neither Liu Huai nor Jia Gu Qingchen led a large number of cavalry. One personally scouted ahead as the vanguard, while the other prepared for an ambush. Both were focused on ensuring the flexibility of their troops, so each only had five or six hundred elite cavalry.

However, the scale of the cavalry deployment was so large that after the more than a thousand cavalrymen clashed with each other, resulting in a total of a hundred dead or wounded and falling from their horses, the battlefield quickly expanded to the entire area of ​​Guangping Town.

Unlike heavy infantry warriors who often fought for hours before a victor could be decided, cavalry charges were like two eggs hitting each other, making it immediately clear who was stronger.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the Jin army was at a disadvantage.

To the surprise of all the Jin army, the place that collapsed first was not the two flanks, but the very center, where Jia Gu Qingchen stood.

His confidence had been completely shattered. In small-scale skirmishes between soldiers and generals, he only had a bronze mace in his hand, and under the attack of various long weapons, he could only dodge in a sorry state.

After dodging the spear that came crashing down on his head once again, Kiyotomi Kagaya finally made the humiliating decision to flee in disarray, lying on his horse.

After Liu Huai and Bi Zaiyu dealt with the Jin army guards blocking their way, they decisively began to advance towards the center of the Jin army formation.

Liu Huai and Jia Gu Qingchen were insignificant in the battle of a thousand cavalrymen, and it was difficult for the whole army to detect any of their actions. However, the key point was that both of them were carrying their own banners.

The flag bearers on both sides moved with their respective commanders, gradually forming a chase-and-escape situation.

The morale of the Jin army was dealt a huge blow almost instantly.

The general is the courage of the army. If the general leads the way in running away, what courage do the ordinary soldiers have left to fight?

Soon, the Jin army, which had initially been at a disadvantage, began to collapse. The Han cavalry then swarmed in along the path opened by Liu Huai, dividing the Jin army into two parts that could not coordinate with each other, and began to strangle the nearly one hundred Jin cavalry who were locked into the battle formation.

After pursuing for two miles, Liu Huai reined in his horse and instructed Bi Zaiyu, "Have the army advance rapidly. The entire army will camp here today and arrive in Liaocheng tomorrow!"

Changqing County is only about 120 li away from Liaocheng, which means that the Han army would have to march 70 li today, which is already considered a forced march.

At this marching speed, they would inevitably lose their vigilance due to exhaustion, and if the Jin army were to launch an ambush, they would likely suffer heavy losses.

After Bi Zaiyu voiced his concerns, Liu Huai shook his head and replied, "The Jin bandits are already exhausted and cannot possibly disperse their elite troops any further. Their ambush here must have been a full-scale attack. No more Jin bandits will come after this. Go and report this quickly!"

Liu Huai had always trained his personal guards as an officer corps, so when planning strategies and tactics, he would try to explain all the causes and consequences clearly so that they could take charge of things independently as soon as possible.

Bi Zaiyu nodded in realization and quickly dismounted to write the document.

Liu Huai glanced at the setting sun and sighed, "What a pity! We didn't kill Jia Gu Qingchen today; that bastard got away!"

Yao Buping wiped the blood-stained tip of his knife and immediately shouted, "Commander, this fellow is nothing but a skeleton in a tomb. I will capture him myself sooner or later and present him to you!"

(End of this chapter)