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

Chapter 744 Weapons Clash

On the morning of May 27th, after a day of travel, Du Wuji braved the rain again and returned to Bafang Town.

"...That's it. The Song rebels are demoralized. Now is the perfect time to send troops." After reporting the military situation, Du Wuji was exhausted and almost collapsed to the ground.

Shi Ju quickly had his guards help him up and put him on a chair. Then someone brought him piping hot ginger and brown sugar water to dispel the cold and dampness from Du Wuji.

Shi Ju turned to Pu Cha Shijie and asked, "Chief Steward Pu Cha, do you have an explanation?"

Pucha Shijie glanced at Du Wuji, then turned his gaze to Zhang Shu, who was standing beside Shi Ju with his sword in hand, and nodded, saying, "Of course there is. It's very simple. Since the Song traitors are so incompetent, we can just attack them directly."

"Without even a night raid, a straightforward breach of the camp and a righteous drive away of the routed troops would immediately lift the siege of Ruyin."

Before Shi Ju could speak, Zhang Shu stepped forward, sword in hand, and asked, "General Pu Cha, now that we are sending troops, who will lead the vanguard and who will follow up?"

Pucha Shijie's brow twitched upon hearing this.

Zhang Shu's identity was quite complicated. He was a man from Hebei and had served as a military commander in the Jin army. When Shi Ju marched south, he was sent by Heshi Lieliangbi to serve as the commander of the Chenzhou army.

Therefore, although Zhang Shu was only a commander at this time and his status was far lower than that of Pucha Shijie, they belonged to different camps and there was no military class law. In theory, Zhang Shu could not give Pucha Shijie any face.

Pucha Shijie could only patiently say, "Naturally, it is according to the rules: the infantry advance first to engage the enemy, and the cavalry seeks an opportunity."

The Chenzhou Army consisted mostly of infantry, while the Wujie Army, naturally following the Jin Dynasty's regulations, was primarily composed of cavalry.

Pucha Shijie's words practically implied that Chenzhou's army should be at the forefront.

Zhang Shu sneered, "General Pucha, this is a surprise attack on the Song bandits, and we need to rely on the advantage of cavalry. Let the Wujie Army lead the charge."

When Pucha Shijie saw that some Han Chinese dared to take advantage of him, he was about to lash out.

Shi Ju waved his hand and said, "Let's all say less. I know that the cavalry will suffer in this kind of weather, but the infantry will suffer as well. I hope that you can be understanding and lead the cavalry to bypass Ruyin City and attack the Song bandits' southern camp to cut off their retreat."

I will personally lead the Chenzhou army to wipe out the remaining three major camps of the Song rebels. Is that acceptable?

Pucha Shijie could only nod angrily, glare at Zhang Shu, and then get up and leave.

Walking into the fine rain, Pucha Shijie looked at the gloomy sky and felt a sense of desolation.

After a lifetime of hard work, his hair is now gray.

At the height of his power, Pucha Shijie commanded the Wujie Army and could even restrain the Left Supervisor Tu Danzhen. How did he end up being directly confronted by a Han Chinese commander?

Pucha Shijie sighed again and walked into the rain.

On the morning of May 28th, the Jin army, which had rested for several days, set off again. However, this time they traveled light and simply, treading on the muddy official road, wearing raincoats, and braving the drizzle, heading towards the Song army.

Although preparations had been made in advance, the adverse weather and road conditions still posed a greater obstacle to the march than anyone had anticipated.

Around 3 PM, the Jin army finally crossed the muddy road and arrived five miles away from the Song army camp.

By this point, even the slow-witted Song army would have spotted the Jin army.

The commander of the Song army's northern camp immediately closed the camp gates, preparing for defense while sending a military envoy to deliver a message to Shao Hongyuan in the south of the city.

This was actually a mistake, because after this arduous march, the morale of the Jin army was very low, and many people fell behind or even deserted.

Even the Wujie Army, with its large number of horses, only managed to send two thousand cavalry, while the Han Chinese army of twenty thousand men only numbered seven thousand.

If the Song generals had been bolder and the Song army's morale had been higher, the entire army could have charged out directly to meet the Jin army head-on, and they might have been able to crush the Jin army in one fell swoop.

But there are no "what ifs" in life.

After experiencing a prolonged rainy season and the deduction of military pay, the morale of the Song army was also low, and they were only focused on holding their ground and waiting for reinforcements.

Seeing from the city wall that the main force of the Jin army had indeed come to the rescue, Xie Fuyao immediately led 3,000 of his own troops to attack. Two thousand of the garrison troops were used to hold back the three Song army camps in the east, west, and south, while Xie Fuyao led the most elite 1,000 troops straight to the northern camp of the Song army.

The Chenzhou army lined up in the rain and began to put on their armor, but after a quarter of an hour, not a single troop of soldiers had been assembled, which made Shi Ju frown.

"what happened?!"

Faced with Shi Ju's questioning, Zhang Shu bowed somewhat awkwardly. Rainwater dripped from his bamboo hat onto his raincoat, gathered in lines, and then fell to the ground: "So that you may know, my lord, that the army has already fallen into disarray. Now, the squad leaders can only gather about twenty or thirty men, and each squad only has fifty or sixty men. Some people's weapons and armor are also missing. It is truly chaotic."

Upon hearing this, Shi Ju nodded, but slightly turned his head to look at Pu Cha Shi Jie, who was leading the hastily assembled cavalry around the city.

He then unbuttoned his raincoat, took it off, and tossed it aside. Ignoring the reactions of the others, he slowly rode his horse to the front of the Henan Han army's formation. Without saying a word, he found a relatively high spot, took his own banner, and stood at attention.

Although Shi Ju's banner was already soaked with rainwater and hung listlessly on the flagpole, the Henan Han soldiers were invigorated when they caught sight of Shi Ju's figure through the rain. They managed to muster approximately three thousand troops in just a quarter of an hour. "Du Dalang, you gather the troops here. Gather one squad and send one squad, gather one garrison and send one garrison." A quarter of an hour later, Shi Ju was completely drenched, but he didn't care. He turned and, carrying his banner, headed towards the Song army camp.

"Zhang Shu, come with me!"

Zhang Shu was also inexplicably excited at this moment and loudly agreed.

Immediately afterwards, the three thousand Chenzhou soldiers, who had already completed their formation, charged toward the Song army camp.

The Song army's main camp north of the city had 6,000 regular soldiers, and if civilian laborers were included, the number exceeded 10,000. However, when faced with a surprise attack from both the front and rear, the Song army was caught off guard and chaotic, and the Jin army pushed down the camp walls from the north and south and rushed into the camp.

The battle between the two sides immediately entered a brutal close-quarters combat phase.

At this moment, Shao Hongyuan, who was in the southern camp, learned of the Jin army's arrival while he was still drunk.

Whether it was the alcohol emboldening him or his genuine confidence, this fellow donned his armor, quickly mustered his troops, distributed rewards, and marched out of the camp to fight.

Shao Hongyuan has been living a very comfortable life these days.

Because when Yu Yunwen was training troops in Huainan, he would personally distribute military pay and rewards to the soldiers every few days. This was called "making decisions on the spot," leaving officers at all levels no room to interfere.

In addition, Yu Yunwen would frequently order the army to leave the camp and march in formation, which meant that the officers couldn't even receive their salaries without actually working.

Although Yu Yunwen treated Shao Hongyuan well, promoting him to the position of commander of a military force, the life there was nothing like the comfortable life he had before when he was enjoying power and prestige.

After this military expedition, Zhang Jun and Yu Yunwen were both in the army in Chizhou, advancing along the Fei River, nearly two hundred li from Ruyin. This gave Shao Hongyuan the opportunity to act recklessly.

When people are successful, they easily become arrogant.

At the foot of Ruyin City, Shao Hongyuan indulged in pleasure every day, spending his days with fine wine and women, listening to flattery, and truly believed himself to be a peerless general.

After leaving the camp and lining up in formation, soaked by the light rain and chilled by the wind, Shao Hongyuan seemed to finally come to his senses. He looked around blankly, and the first thing he did was lower his head and ask the attendant beside him, "What exactly happened? And why am I here?"

The attendant already knew that his master was a drunkard, so he wasn't surprised to hear this. He simply whispered and repeated the military intelligence that had just arrived, as well as the military orders issued by Shao Hongyuan.

After hearing this, Shao Hongyuan felt as if he were in a dream.

I must have some guts to dare to leave the camp and engage in open battle with the main force of the Jin invaders.
However, before Shao Hongyuan's muddled mind could process this, he saw a Jin cavalry force bypass a corner of the city, step through the rain, and, guided by a large banner bearing the inscription "Pucha," rush towards the Southern Camp of the Song army.

This cavalry force consisted of only about three hundred riders, but it was incredibly imposing and had an indomitable spirit. As a result, even though Shao Hongyuan was under the protection of five thousand Song soldiers, he still felt no sense of security.

"Sun Wang, Li Wenhuai, you two stay here and meet the enemy!" Seeing this, Shao Hongyuan no longer hesitated and loudly ordered his two commanders before turning his horse around and leaving.

The two officers were used to it and didn't pay much attention to Shao Hongyuan's behavior.

In actual history, among the so-called thirteen military achievements of the restoration, the Battle of Weiziqiao, led by Shao Hongyuan, was a battle in which these two, along with archers, exchanged fire with the Jin army on the bridge, resulting in their deaths before finally repelling the Jin army.

Now, due to the interference of the time traveler, Shao Hongyuan used Li Xianzong as a scapegoat when Wanyan Liang invaded the south and fled in a hurry. Therefore, there was no Battle of Weiziqiao. As a result, Generals Sun Wang and Li Wenhuai are still alive.

But they still face serious challenges.

Wu Jie's army suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the Han army, which chased them to the point of having nowhere to go but to the heavens and the earth. They had no choice but to breach the Bian River to defend themselves, but even then, they were only badly defeated by the Han army.

How could these Song soldiers, who had not received their pay for two months, truly stop Wu Jie's desperate fight?

Within half an hour of the battle, Sun Wang was killed in action, Li Wenhuai was seriously wounded, and the Song army's troops in the southern camp collapsed on the left flank and fled back into the camp.

The Jin army was immediately drawn in and engaged the Song army in close combat within their camp.

In hindsight, the Song army might not have necessarily been defeated at that point.

The Jin army had come from a long march and was somewhat disunited due to internal strife. If Shao Hongyuan could harden his heart and lead his troops to fight the Jin army to the death, he might be able to achieve a real and great victory.

However, at this very moment, a document from the Song army's northern camp requesting reinforcements arrived, completely shattering Shao Hongyuan's last psychological defense.

Just like in the Battle of Weiziqiao and the Northern Expedition of Longxing in history, this guy abandoned his army and fled.

At this point, the Song army's two main camps, one in the north and one in the south, were completely beyond saving, and the Song soldiers scattered and fled.

Zhang Zhen, the deputy commander of the Song army in Huaixi, remained calm at the eastern camp of the city. After all, he was Yu Yunwen's confidant and had experienced the Battle of Chaoxian, so he did not panic.

However, even though Zhang Zhen remained calm, he was ultimately powerless to reverse the situation and could only lead his 5,000 troops to retreat south while gathering the routed soldiers.

(End of this chapter)