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

Chapter 721 A surprise attack on the enemy camp and the killing of General Huyan

Regardless of whether Yelü Saba was abandoned by the Khitans, he was ultimately revered as the common leader by the Khitan rebels and served as their military leader for a considerable period of time, leading them in battles against the Jin army.

Although Yelü Wowo's betrayal was ultimately caused by factional divisions within the Khitan rebel army, Yelü Saba still enjoyed extremely high prestige among the Khitan people.

At this time, some Khitans in the Han army raised banners with blue oxen and white horses and shouted slogans to avenge Yelü Saba. One can imagine how great an impact this had on the Khitans in the Jin army.

This effect was immediately apparent on the battlefield.

At this time, the old monk Yelü, who had changed his name to Monk Liu, had only two hundred light cavalrymen with him. Carrying a blue ox and a white horse banner, he charged towards Yelü Wowo's banner, advancing as if into an empty field.

The surrounding Khitan troops hurriedly parted to make way for their commander, just as if they were making way for their own leader.

"Kill Yelü Wowo! Kill the traitor! Avenge King Saba!"

The shouts of battle grew louder and louder. Eventually, not only were the ordinary Khitan soldiers in the Jin army terrified, but even Yelü Wowo's hundreds of loyal guards became fearful.

Seeing this, Yelü Chenjia gritted his teeth and shouted to Yelü Wowo's guards, "Take our elder brother and leave quickly! I'll hold them off here!"

The guards knew this was not the time to argue, so they immediately pulled Yelü Wowo along, rolled up the banner, and retreated.

Just as Yelü Chenjia had commanded his light cavalry to prepare for battle, the blue ox and white horse banner was already dozens of paces away.

In his shock, he immediately shouted, "Fire! Fire! All of you, charge forward and fire!"

Few dared to face the charging cavalry head-on in a desperate fight to the death, but there were still those who dared to shoot arrows from afar.

Soon, nearly a hundred riders swarmed forward, then split up from the middle, hurling arrows at the charging Han light cavalry from both flanks.

Several of the leading men in the Han army's light cavalry were hit by arrows; some fell off their horses, while others tumbled off with their horses.

The horse riding at the forefront of the charge was struck by two arrows in the neck. After a mournful neigh, it collapsed to the ground, and Liu Heshang rolled around on the ground in a sorry state.

The Liao cavalrymen exclaimed in surprise, while the Khitan soldiers cheered with excitement.

However, Monk Liu immediately stood up, mounted an unclaimed warhorse, pulled an arrow from his shoulder, and, with his eyes bloodshot, swept his gaze across the surrounding Khitan soldiers like a bloodthirsty demon.

Soon, Monk Liu spotted a familiar face among them. His eyes widened in fury, and he roared, "Xiao Liujin! After killing King Saba, you dare to come and kill this old monk?!"

Upon hearing this, the general named Xiao Liujin was filled with shame and covered his face with his robe before turning his horse around and fleeing.

As the last contingent of troops sent to stop them was rebuked and driven back by Monk Liu, sweat poured down Yelü Chenjia's forehead.

But he ultimately could not give up this tactical core position for the light cavalry strangulation warfare.

"Follow me to kill the traitors!"

Yelü Chenjia gathered dozens of his personal guards and armored cavalry, and slowly advanced to meet them in battle, clashing with Liu Heshang's hundred or so light cavalry.

Having lost their speed advantage, light cavalry struggled to engage in close combat with armored cavalry, but Liu Heshang was already recklessly killing indiscriminately.

Facing these former close friends who later betrayed him, Liu Heshang fought fiercely with his spear while cursing the Khitans who were fighting for the Jin Dynasty.

If ordinary Khitan soldiers felt both awe and fear in the face of the suddenly appearing blue ox and white horse banner, then those who were originally core members of the Khitan uprising army, such as the Yelü Chen family, felt mostly ashamed in the face of Liu Heshang.

"Where is Yelü Wowo?! Get out here! Get out here for me! You coward, where's your guts to betray your sovereign and commit regicide?!"

Seeing that the morale of his personal guards was somewhat low, Yelü Chenjia had no choice but to bite the bullet and shout back, "Old monk! Stop pretending to be a hero! Given the situation that day, was there any other way but to surrender?!"

Yelü Chenjia was not good with words, and because he was in the wrong, he spoke toughly, but his words were actually quite soft. This may have been a greater blow to the morale of the Jin army than Liu Heshang's scolding earlier.

Sure enough, the morale of his personal guards immediately waned, and even in the midst of fierce fighting, they couldn't help but look back.

Liu the Monk recognized the speaker from the voice. Through a dozen or so cavalrymen in the midst of the melee, his eyes flashed like lightning: "Chen family! You treacherous villains!"

After saying this, Monk Liu suddenly raised his spear high and hurled the only long weapon in his hand.

Caught off guard, the Yelü Chen family could only duck and hide.

The spear traced an arc through the air and struck Yelü Chenjia's helmet with a clang, making him see stars and causing him to turn his horse and flee in panic.

The Jin army then collapsed in disarray. "Chen family! Why are you running away?! Weren't you so arrogant when you betrayed your master?!"

As if he had gone mad, Liu the monk, empty-handed, shouted and charged forward recklessly until he was pulled back by Liu Ba who cut in from the side.

"Zha Ba! Why aren't you fighting alongside me? What are you doing, stopping me?!"

Monk Liu launched into a tirade against Yelü Zhaba, who had changed his name to Liu Ba.

Liu Ba, however, was not angry at all. Instead, he said, panting heavily, "Monk, that's enough! We've driven away the Jin light cavalry. Don't chase them anymore! If we do, we might run into the Jin armored cavalry!"

Upon hearing this, the madness in Liu Heshang's eyes lessened by a third, but he still pointed at the banner behind him with red eyes and said, "Zha Ba! Commander-in-Chief has given me face, and I cannot refuse. After today, I will never be able to raise this blue ox and white horse banner again. If I cannot do it today, I will sacrifice that scoundrel Wowo to the banner, and there will be no chance in the future!"

Liu Ba remained calm: "There will be opportunities. Didn't you hear? The Commander-in-Chief is about to establish a nation. With his magnanimity, would he really bother with such trivial matters?! Let's go, lest we jeopardize the Commander-in-Chief's important plans!"

Liu the Monk finally calmed down and led his troops to retreat slowly.

Although this swiftly advancing light cavalry force retreated, the defeat of the Jin army's light cavalry was already inevitable.

Yelü Xingge and Dian Lun, one in the south and the other in the north, controlled more than 3,000 light cavalry of the Liao cavalry to press forward, spreading across the entire battlefield and completely grasping the information of the entire battlefield. To some extent, they also cut off the Jin army's routes of attack from both flanks.

Liu Huai was merely somewhat surprised by the result, while He Shilie Zhining was quite exasperated.

Although Wanyan Fushou had mocked Yelü Wowo before, he hadn't expected the fellow to be so useless. He immediately spurred his horse to Heshilie Zhining and said, "Marshal, let the armored cavalry charge! If we continue like this, we'll just lose morale. What should we do?!"

Heshilie Zhining glanced at Wanyan Fushou, then said coldly, "General Fushou, this is a national war, concerning the rise and fall of the nation. I will spare you this time, but if you have any other ulterior motives, do you really think I wouldn't dare to kill a general to establish my authority?"

Wanyan Fushou trembled violently, wanting to explain himself, but seeing Heshi Liezhining's chilling gaze, he swallowed back all the words he wanted to say.

The Jin army deployed a large formation of cavalry with hooked hooves.

The specific formation is somewhat similar to a variant of the long snake formation.

Yelü Wowo led 6,000 Khitan light cavalry to challenge and harass the Han army in front of the lines. The purpose was twofold: first, to eliminate the Han cavalry and control the battlefield; and second, to disrupt the Han army's formation and create opportunities for fresh troops to fight.

The second line consisted of a large formation of Jin infantry and armored cavalry, personally commanded by Heshilie Zhining, including 8,000 elite armored cavalry and approximately 20,000 infantry.

Wuyan Chala on the left wing and Tudan Hailuo on the right wing each led 8,000 armored cavalry, positioned on either side of the central army. This force served both as flanking maneuvers and as a protector of the central army's flanks.

The third line was the 10,000 infantrymen led by Wanyan Mouyan, serving as the general reserve force.

Although it is a simple three-line formation, due to the large number of people and the limitations of the era, it can only rely on flags and drums for simple command. Therefore, there are many times when the general in command has to make his own decisions.

For example, in the current situation where the Khitan light cavalry has completely collapsed, if Wuyan Chala and Tudan Hailuo felt it was necessary to stabilize the situation, they would have already sent armored cavalry out from both flanks to charge out. Why would the central army need to give another order?
The reason they didn't move was because the Jin army's formation was too wide, especially the cavalry on both flanks, which occupied a vast area. There were still about five li between the Han army and the Jin army's formation, and although the Khitan light cavalry had been routed, they still hadn't broken out of this five-li range.

If the Jin army were to attack from both flanks, these Khitan light cavalry would likely panic and run away, being driven by the Jin armored cavalry to charge into the Han army's infantry formation.

With the Han army in such a formidable formation, how could a group of routed light cavalry possibly break through? It would be a miracle if the Khitan light cavalry didn't suffer heavy casualties.

Heshilie Zhining didn't believe that Wanyan Fushou didn't understand this principle, but he still brought it up, revealing his scheming of using someone else to do his dirty work.

Heshilie Zhining was no saint, nor would he pity the lives of the Khitans. But as he said, this was a national war, and all forces should be mobilized; not a single soldier's life should be easily sacrificed!
At a time like this, Wanyan Fushou is still thinking about his grudges with Yelü Wowo. This is not only beneath him, but also despicable!
Wanyan Fushou was somewhat disheveled, but after Heshilie Zhining turned to look at the army formation ahead, he still managed to say, "Are we just going to let the Shandong bandits cover the battlefield and show off their power in front of us?"

He Shilie Zhining slowly shook his head: "Of course not!"

He didn't give Wanyan Fushou a chance to speak again, and directly ordered: "Wanyan Zhang!"

"The general is here!"

Wanyan Zhang, who had been waiting for a long time, rubbed his hands together and loudly agreed.

"I give you a thousand armored cavalrymen of the central army to lead the way for the main force!" He Shilie Zhining ordered in a deep voice: "Just drive away the light cavalry of the Shandong rebels, do not pursue them too deeply!"

"This is a military order!"

Wanyan Zhang originally wanted to argue a bit, but upon hearing this, he could only bow and agree: "I will obey your orders!"

(End of this chapter)