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

Chapter 724 Dividing Forces and Combining Forces in Multiple Encirclements

Wuyanchala had been standing on his horse for so long that his lieutenant was worried he might fall off and die.

However, because Wu Yanchala had a fiery temper, no one dared to speak up to persuade him, for fear of being whipped for no reason.

The reason for Wuyanchala's behavior is quite simple: he is eager to join the war.

The Jin army brought a total of 30,000 cavalry to Daming Prefecture.

These cavalrymen were different from the armed herders on the grasslands; they were the true elite.

Even the seemingly weaker Khitan light cavalry suffered eight-tenths of their defeats against the Liao cavalry due to psychological warfare, and were not truly vulnerable.

As for the remaining 25,000 armored cavalry, that was the last remaining asset of the Eastern Jin.

It must be understood that after experiencing a series of major wars and splitting into two, the Eastern Jin was no longer the vast and powerful state that once spanned the Central Plains and Liaodong.

The losses of troops during this period were real. Wanyan Liang's well-organized 32nd Army was a thing of the past. It can be said that these 25,000 armored cavalry were the last reliance of the Eastern Jin in suppressing the Mongols and Khitans.

Therefore, even though Wuyan Chala was extremely impatient, he ultimately dared not send out his eight thousand cavalry on the left flank.

As for the piecemeal tactics, Wuyanchala wouldn't even dare to think about them.

Because the Han cavalry was not weak either. Even though the Flying Tiger Army seemed to be absent at this time, Zhang Baiyu, who was opposite Wuyan Chala, was a famous cavalry general. His nearly three thousand armored Han cavalry were not to be trifled with.

If we send out a small group of armored cavalry to challenge them, what if they are utterly wiped out by Zhang Baiyu?

Therefore, these eight thousand armored cavalry could only be deployed in organized units.

With so many cavalry, there was no way to unify their command in battle. Wuyanchala could only command a maximum of three thousand cavalry, and the rest had to be handed over to his deputy general.

This meant that Wuyan Chala only had almost one chance to launch an attack.

If the enemy cannot be defeated and the victory cannot be pursued, the Jin army will fall into a chaotic situation of fighting each other independently.

In the face of a well-trained Han infantry formation, doing so would be tantamount to suicide.

Zhang Baiyu had a similar idea. The Han army had fewer cavalry, which put Zhang Baiyu under greater pressure and made him even more hesitant to act rashly.

Thus began a fierce standoff between the Han and Jin armies. Apart from the scouts continuing their battles, the Han army's infantry in the center were slaughtered, their flesh and blood flowing like rivers.

In fact, according to the research of later military strategists, the correct way to use cavalry most of the time is to wait for their own infantry to gain the upper hand before moving in to clean up the mess.

However, the waiting process was far too agonizing.

"Report!"

Upon seeing the military envoy who had been sent out two quarters of an hour earlier return, Wuyanchala immediately grabbed him and asked, "Marshal, what military orders do you have?!"

The military envoy gave a wry smile: "The marshal still says the same thing as before: the general can wait for the central army to raise the yellow flag as a signal, or he can act on his own... The marshal also said..."

At this point, the military envoy hesitated and dared not speak further.

Wu Yanchala shouted, "What did you say?"

The military envoy lowered his voice: "The marshal said that Iron Hammer Commander used to have the heroic spirit of a general, but today he's acting like a nagging woman. If Iron Hammer Commander doesn't dare to take responsibility, then he will have to send another general to command the left wing..."

In the end, the military envoy's voice was barely audible.

The several deputy generals who had gathered around to hear He Shilie Zhining's orders exchanged bewildered glances, then pretended not to have heard anything and dispersed.

Wu Yanchala knew that this was not Heshilie Zhining humiliating him, but rather that because he had repeatedly requested military orders, Heshilie Zhining had become uneasy, which was why he had spoken out in rebuke.

But this did not stop Wu Yanchala from having an uncertain expression, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

Wuyanchala stood on his horse again, facing the rising sun and gazing at the center of the battlefield. After a moment, he finally lost his composure and said, "Tell me, I hold the nation's elite troops and the entire army in my hands. Am I just going to sit idly by and watch the outcome of this national war?"

The lieutenants exchanged glances, then one of their close associates gritted his teeth and said, "General, of course not. Otherwise, according to history, all of us will be condemned as cowards who missed a crucial opportunity!"

"A-Su, what's your explanation?"

The deputy general, named Asu, immediately spoke up: "General, even if the Shandong bandits' cavalry is equally elite, they are still outnumbered. Can't our army send some troops to take a detour? You must know that cavalry have to run; there's no reason for them to sit still!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yanchala hesitated once again.

However, seeing the increasingly fierce battle in the central command position, he made up his mind: "Asu, I will give you three thousand cavalrymen to go north and try to get behind the Shandong bandits, but do not fight recklessly, and do not force the issue!"

Asu immediately nodded excitedly, then turned his horse around, mustered three thousand armored cavalry, donned their armor, mounted their warhorses, and headed north.

The Han scouts immediately discovered the Jin army's unusual movements and quickly reported the situation up the chain of command, eventually reaching Zhang Baiyu. Zhang Baiyu dispatched his deputy general with 600 cavalry northwards while simultaneously requesting reinforcements from He Bo, the commander of the rear guard.

He Boqiu, naturally, did not hesitate and dispatched Hu Yue, the commander of the Wucheng Army, to lead 2,500 infantrymen northward to support Liang Pan.

The two sides engaged in combat about ten miles north of the main battlefield, and for a time the fighting was evenly matched.

This experience almost happened again to Tudan Hailuo at the southernmost point of the battlefield, and Huyan Nanxian and He Boqiu reacted similarly, once again dividing their forces to deal with Tudan Hailuo's flanking troops.

The duels between elite troops were so simple and unadorned that they were almost boring.

There is no room for any ingenious schemes or clever tactics, because any plan can only be implemented if the other party makes a mistake.

This situation arises when neither side makes a mistake: troops attempting a flanking maneuver are quickly spotted by enemy scouts, reinforcements arrive immediately, and the two sides engage in a direct battle.

In the end, the battle lines will only continue to widen, with head-on battles taking place everywhere along the entire front, and the final outcome will still be determined by direct confrontation.

Back to the present, although Wuyan Chala had spun out 3,000 armored cavalry, he still maintained a force advantage of about twice that of Zhang Baiyu because Zhang Baiyu had also divided his forces, so he was still able to hold his ground.

However, Wanyan Zhang, who was in the central battle group, was completely panicked.

To run into a wooden fortress of wagons out of nowhere was bad enough, but now thousands of infantrymen were flanking them from both sides, attempting to surround the Jin cavalry who had broken in. That was no longer just bad luck, but utter terror.

"Xi Lienni!" Wanyan Zhang shouted to another commander, Wanyan Shoudao, "Let's go quickly! This is not a fault of our fighting spirit!"

Wanyan Shoudao was also drenched in sweat from the shock of the situation, but he still managed to maintain some composure: "No... we can't just retreat like this... including the ones you brought at the beginning, there are a total of four thousand armored cavalry..."

Wanyan Zhang said anxiously, "You know it's four thousand armored cavalry, half of the central army's cavalry. If they're sandwiched between the Shandong bandits, we're all doomed!"

Wanyan Shoudao stepped forward, grabbed Wanyan Zhang's arm, and said loudly, "Ah Zhang! Don't panic. Look back and see how big the gaps are between the small formations of the Tianping bandits. Are they big enough for our army to move in and out quickly?!"
Even if we withdraw, how many troops will we lose in the rush?! The withdrawn cavalry will be even more difficult to regroup. In that case, what difference will it make if we lose four thousand cavalry for nothing?

Moreover, if we retreat in a disheveled state, it will be considered a defeat, and have you ever thought about how devastating that will be on morale?

Wanyan Shoudao was, after all, the grandson of Wanyan Xiyin, and his family had some scholarly background. In such a tense situation, he was still able to quickly weigh the pros and cons, which can be considered as outstanding ability.

Faced with a barrage of questions, Wanyan Zhang was speechless, and said with some embarrassment and annoyance, "Then tell me what to do?!"

Panting heavily, Wanyan Shoudao pointed to the four small formations of the Tianping Army: "The only way now is to attack from both sides with the infantry, break through one of the Tianping rebels, open a passage, show off our martial prowess, and boost morale!"

This was one of the two routes that Wanyan Zhang hesitated to take at the beginning. If he had given up attacking the chariot formation and concentrated his superior forces to attack the Tianping Army, he might have already achieved some success by now.

In fact, Wanyan Shoudao had already raised this opinion two quarters of an hour earlier.

However, Wanyan Zhang felt that this fellow had an old grudge against the Tianping Army, and since the Dongping Army seemed to still have a chance, Wanyan Zhang resolutely rejected this suggestion.

However, as the battlefield became increasingly chaotic and more and more Han troops joined the battle, the Jin cavalry, caught between the Tianping and Dongping armies, also became scattered.

Especially after several unsuccessful attacks on the Dongping army's chariot formations, and with the cavalry's range of movement further compressed, Wanyan Zhang could only directly command a little over a thousand cavalrymen, while the rest of the troops were all caught in the chaos of fighting their own battles.

Making a decision now might be the worst opportunity, but it could also be the last!
Wanyan Zhang gritted his teeth and said, "Then let's do as Xi Lienni said and first defeat the Tianping rebels! I think the small formation on the north side doesn't seem very strong, so let's start there!"

Wanyan Shoudao immediately nodded and said, "That's exactly what I wanted!"

Both were seasoned veterans who had long since discovered that the Taiping Army's rightmost flank formation seemed to be the weakest.

Indeed, Shi Baiju was a young general with only average military talent; his only redeeming quality was diligence and honesty.

Of course, such generals are the true cornerstone of an army. According to the current military building philosophy of the Han army, once the north is unified and the population base is further expanded, a general of above-average caliber, coupled with well-trained troops and a large number of reserves, will be enough to support a war.

But before he had grown up, being suddenly thrown onto this battlefield, Shi Baiju was still somewhat at a loss, and it was inevitable that he would feel panicked.

On the battlefield, a general's weaknesses will be magnified infinitely by hundreds or thousands of people. If the attack is not decisive enough and the defense is not resolute enough, the resulting gap in morale will be immediately noticed by experienced enemy generals.

As if things weren't going to go wrong, Liu E, who was leading three thousand fresh troops to support the battlefield, also set his sights on Shi Baiju.

Liu E was well aware that his right wing and central army were being suppressed, but he did not send fresh troops to support them immediately.

Or rather, precisely because the right wing and the central army were at a disadvantage, Liu E needed to find a breakthrough elsewhere to use as a starting point to completely dismantle the Taiping Army's horizontal formation.

Liu E and Wanyan Zhang, these two mortal enemies, seemed to be of one mind, or rather, they saw the echo of each other's banners, and launched a fierce attack on Shi Baiju from the east and west at the same time.

Shi Baiju had only two thousand exhausted soldiers under his command. Facing the siege of more than six thousand Jin soldiers from all sides, no miracle occurred. After holding out for a quarter of an hour, they collapsed.

After nearly an hour of fighting, the Jin army finally achieved its first victory, and the morale of officers at all levels soared.

However, what happened next proved that they were too optimistic.

(End of this chapter)