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

Chapter 643 Horse Stables and Sword Rings

Both the Wujie Army and the Flying Tiger Army can be considered among the most elite forces in the world. Logically speaking, their battle should have been a lively scene of swords clashing and heroes vying for supremacy.

However, both armies had come from a long march and were quite exhausted.

The riders on horseback were all fine, but the main warhorses, even after running so far empty, were still somewhat tired and no longer looked as energetic as before.

The warhorses carrying heavily armored knights were already panting after only two sprints, and the pace of the battle slowed down accordingly.

Another crucial point is that both the Wujie Army and the Flying Tiger Army suffered significant non-combat casualties during their marches. Most of those who were separated from the main force were not killed or wounded; they were simply dispersed. However, this led to problems with the army's organizational structure.

For example, in the Flying Tigers, a platoon leader can only find about four or five men. Don't laugh at me, brother; the Martial Victory Army is pretty much the same.

The command systems of both sides also became somewhat sluggish as a result.

The combination of a chaotic command system and exhausted warhorses led to a certain outcome.

Guo Anguo only led his cavalry in one charge before completely losing command of the Jin army.

A thousand Jin cavalrymen and five hundred Flying Tiger armored cavalrymen engaged in a fierce battle.

This was certainly not the outcome Guo Anguo wanted to see.

He originally intended to swiftly defeat the two Han armies that had gathered outside the city, in order to intimidate the Han army and prevent their follow-up troops from gaining a foothold.

Guo Anguo had long been mentally prepared for the difficulty of the battle. He had even predicted that he would be beheaded by the two fierce generals, Xin Qiji and Zhang Baiyu, when the battle was at its most intense.

But I never imagined that the war would inexplicably turn out like this.

Despite having twice the number of troops, they fought to a draw. Doesn't this mean that the Flying Tiger Cavalry is twice as strong as the Martial Victory Army?
Don't forget, Xin Qiji is also waiting around the battlefield with more than 500 soldiers, ready to attack!
Moreover, in the midst of the chaos, Guo Anguo's safety was even less guaranteed. He was now surrounded by only a few dozen personal guards, and the large banner behind him was the best indicator of his safety. Perhaps a fierce general in the Han army was already preparing to launch a surprise attack.

Thinking of this, although his armor was no different from that of the surrounding cavalry, Guo Anguo still shrank back among his personal guards and looked back at Fuli Town.

"Asa, you must make sure you understand the situation clearly and don't make any more mistakes."

Guo Anguo silently told himself that since he had left the city, he was already prepared to die.

Even if we cannot defeat the Han army, we should at least buy enough time for the main force to cross the river.

Meanwhile, Xin Qiji also found himself in a dilemma.

His situation here is even more troublesome than that of the Wu Jie Army and the Flying Tiger Army combined.

These two armies were at least a unified entity. Even though their organization was chaotic, they could still be roughly organized according to their rank.

However, the Taiping Army and the Loyal Army were two completely different forces. Even though they had fought side by side before, they had not undergone any reorganization and their command systems were fundamentally incompatible.

Moreover, most of Xin Qiji's five hundred men were not cavalry, but merely mounted infantry, who could only dismount and form ranks. To lead them in a mounted charge would truly be suicidal.

These infantrymen included archers, swordsmen, and spearmen, making them appear to be a well-organized but incomplete force. However, because they belonged to different centurions and were commanded by different officers, they could not be properly assembled in a short time.

"Fifth Brother!" Wang Xiongyi was sweating profusely in the cold wind. "Our two armies are too disorganized and can't form a proper formation. Should we wait for the rest of the troops?"

Looking at the chaos, Xin Qiji gritted his teeth and said, "We can't wait any longer. The Flying Tiger Army is already fighting the Jin invaders. If we fall into a disadvantageous position and allow the Jin invaders to gain momentum, it will be even more difficult for us to fight."

With that, Xin Qiji snatched his own blue rhinoceros banner, then went to the chaotic front of the formation and shouted, "I am Xin Qiji! Heed my command! Heed my command! Spears in front! Archers and swordsmen and shieldmen behind the spears! Take up your short weapons and engage the Jin invaders!"

After Xin Qiji, accompanied by several personal guards, galloped back and forth in front of the formation and shouted for a while, the dismounted infantrymen finally quieted down and stood side by side with people they might not have known before, forming small square formations.

Although these formations varied greatly, some had more than thirty people per formation and others had more than sixty people per formation, the smaller formations could stand side by side and were still passable.

If this formation were to engage in a decisive battle with the Jin army head-on, it would be suicidal.

But it's more than enough to handle the chaotic situation at hand.

Xin Qiji dismounted, handed the blue rhinoceros banner to the flag bearer behind him, and stood with his personal guards, spear in hand, at the very center of the spear formation.

"Kill the thief!"

There was no pre-battle speech, no grand pronouncements; after a roar, Xin Qiji, surrounded by his guards, charged forward with the Green Rhinoceros Banner in hand.

"Kill the thief!"

The infantry formation also started up with a roar. The formation moved crookedly, with some in front and some behind, and their steps were uneven. They couldn't even walk in a straight line.

The entire small horizontal formation resembled a longbow with the center thrust forward and the flanks lagging behind, sweeping towards the cavalry's main force.

After engaging in battle, the infantry found it even more difficult to maintain their formation, quickly splitting into small squares. Spearmen stabbed the knights, swordsmen and shieldmen slashed at the horses' legs, and archers would occasionally fire arrows at the Jin knights within a step or two. Before long, more than a hundred Jin cavalrymen had perished in the slaughter by the Han infantry squares.

The Flying Tiger cavalry, who had been freed from the melee by the infantry joining the battle, did not remain idle. They reorganized their ranks behind the square formations and then, in groups of five or six, launched continuous attacks along the gaps between the square formations.

Often, when the Flying Tiger cavalry broke through the gaps in the Jin cavalry's formation, the infantry would immediately advance, expanding their gains along the gaps, while the Flying Tiger cavalry would retreat. Once the infantry had regained their footing, the Flying Tiger cavalry would complete their formation and attack again through the gaps between the square formations.

Faced with this offensive, the Jin army was like a plank of wood being torn apart by a swarm of termites. Although the termites could only bite off a few pieces of sawdust each time, the entire plank was rapidly disappearing.

Standing atop a small hill, Guo Anguo surveyed the entire battlefield, and his heart sank into an icy abyss.

The tactic that the Han army used unintentionally was something that Guo Anguo, a veteran general of the Jin army, was all too familiar with.

What else could this be but the Jin army's tactic of repeated attacks by cavalry flanking infantry?
However, the Jin army usually used a large formation of several Meng'an (a type of cavalry unit) consisting of several men, numbering in the thousands. The flanks were cavalry, and the middle was infantry, charging forward in succession. This formation was commonly known as the "Hooked Horse Formation" or the "Long Snake Formation."

The Jin army used this tactic to win every battle.

But now the Han army is fighting spontaneously in small square formations of more than thirty men, with four or five horsemen as support. This is truly unbelievable.

Even with Yue Fei's abilities, he could only train his troops to a hundred-man unit, supplemented by a large number of officers, including generals, deputy generals, and reserve generals, to form an army.

Even so, after the Yue Family Army was formed, it wiped out the main force of the Jin army led by Wanyan Wuzhu in a single battle.

How did Liu Huai manage to do that?
Guo Anguo stared with his mouth agape, his mind filled with only this one thought.

Of course, what Guo Anguo didn't know was that Liu Huai had almost completely copied the training methods of the later great military strategist Qi Jiguang.

Military theory is also a kind of technology. All military strategists stand on the shoulders of their predecessors. After systematically studying the military strategies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi, summarizing the military tactics of Li Jing, Yue Fei and others, and thoroughly understanding the experience of Ming Dynasty military strategists, Qi Jiguang finally pushed the organization to an unprecedented level of ten-man teams.

The most comprehensive example is the famous Mandarin Duck Formation.

The greatest strength of the Mandarin Duck Formation lies not in its unusual weapons such as wolf spears, but in the fact that its army can move in units of ten men.

To put it more clearly, at the height of Qi Jiguang's army, every squad leader had initiative and would organize troops to fight independently even without orders from their superiors.

With soldiers like this, even if each of them were only given a sword, they could carve out their own territory.

Of course, this is not the ultimate solution.

The iron-willed army of later generations instilled a high degree of discipline in every single individual, thus creating the legend of the strongest light infantry in the 20th century.

Returning to the present, the improved organization of the army is the result of training troops according to the "New Book of Military Efficiency". In other words, regardless of Liu Huai's subjective intentions, the army he built will gradually approach the combat strength of the Qi Family Army in history as it trains.

Xin Qiji also copied Liu Huai's method of training troops, so it is not surprising that his troops were very similar to the Loyal and Righteous Army.

Faced with the overwhelming force of three hundred years of military strategy development, Guo Anguo was utterly powerless to fight back.

As the thousand-plus Jin cavalrymen gradually collapsed, Guo Anguo took off his helmet, letting the cold wind blow through his gray hair.

"General! Let's go!" a guard advised.

"Where are we going?" Guo Anguo stared wide-eyed at the approaching Azure Rhinoceros Banner and muttered to himself.

The guards were extremely anxious: "We'll go anywhere, south or north. The area between the Yellow River and the Ju River is so wide, I don't believe the Shandong bandits can block this place completely! We'll protect the general back to Bianliang, back to Youyan, or even go to the Song Kingdom to seek refuge. General, please make a decision quickly."

Guo Anguo shook his head and said, "You didn't understand what I meant. I meant..."

As he spoke, he pointed to the Han army's formation, paused for a moment, and then said, "If the Han army were all like this, tens of thousands of them would be enough to sweep across the world. Escape? Where could they possibly escape to?"

Guo Anguo, after all, was a seasoned general who had seen it all and had spent a long time in the army. Faced with this Han army, he had fallen into deep despair and even became somewhat insane: "No one can escape! I can't escape! Asa can't escape! His Majesty can't escape! Wanyan Yong and that eunuch Zhao Gou can't escape either! We can't escape! The world belongs to this man! We can't escape!"

The guard couldn't understand why Guo Anguo would lose heart and courage after losing a thousand men, but he quickly realized what was going on and grabbed Guo Anguo, gritting his teeth, and said, "My lord! If you don't want to join the Song Kingdom, then let's join Liu Dalang and surrender to him in the face of battle! That way we can save our lives, okay?!"

After venting his anger, Guo Anguo calmed down. He looked back at Fuli Town and shook his head, saying, "I can't let Asa down. I have to hold on for a while longer."

"You can go now. Don't worry, as soon as that big blue rhinoceros or white fish gets close to me, I will surrender without resistance."

Guo Anguo smiled slightly: "I want to meet Liu Dalang. At the very least, I want to see with my own eyes what the true chosen one of the Han dynasty looks like."

The guard nodded, dismissed the others, and then stood beside Guo Anguo, sword in hand.

"Aren't you leaving?"

The guard laughed and said, "Young Master, do you still remember what Master said when he betrayed the Song Dynasty?"

Upon hearing his family recount Guo Yaoshi's story, Guo Anguo pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement: "The Song emperor is incompetent, and the Han people are weak; it would be better to surrender to the Jin."

The guard nodded and sighed, saying, "At that time, Ah Lang and I were both by the master's side. We already harbored resentment towards the Song state because of Zhang Jue's death, and then we were hit with the defeat at Baihe, so we started thinking about surrendering to the Jin."

“Nearly forty years have passed, and I am getting old. If what Ah Lang said is true, and the Han people are finally about to rise up, how can I not go and see for myself? I will have no regrets even if I die.”

Guo Anguo was speechless and could only sigh and shake his head repeatedly. Then, watching the cavalry formation gradually collapse, he remained silent.

(End of this chapter)