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

Chapter 750 Enemies are extremely jealous when they meet
No matter how passionate Deng Jiu was, or how cowardly Liu Bao was.

The defeat of the Song army seemed inevitable.

Especially when Pusan ​​Zhongyi personally led his troops to arrive, the Jin army, which was somewhat chaotic due to the night battle, was quickly regrouped, formed neat ranks, and launched another attack. Once the orders were obeyed without question, the Song army was already on the verge of destruction.

When Deng Jiu arrived at Li Heng's front line after traversing the chaotic battlefield, only two of his companions remained by his side. It was unknown whether the others were dead or had been scattered in the chaos of battle.

"General Li! My general is being closely pursued by the Jin invaders and cannot come to join us. He has no choice but to retreat eastward. General, do not wait any longer, retreat now!"

Deng Jiu gave Liu Bao some face and didn't say anything bad about him. However, since they had both been involved in the corrupting influence of the Song army, how could Li Heng not know what Liu Bao wanted to do?
But now that things have come to this, arguing is pointless. Li Heng immediately ordered the entire army to retreat along the Wo River and move their positions under the cover of night.

But things are never that simple.
The Huaidong army, especially the 15,000 elite troops under Li Heng, was indeed the elite of the Song army, but Pusan ​​Zhongyi was no pushover either.

This fellow was already furious about letting Liu Bao go, and now he vented all his anger on the Song army in front of him. He personally led the Heza Meng'an to charge back and forth, and in a short while, taking advantage of the Song army's change of formation, he tore the Song army apart.

At this point, the Song army was completely doomed. The 15,000-strong army scattered and fled. The Jin cavalry galloped and trampled them, and countless people were forced to drown in the Wo River.

Li Heng fled in disarray amidst the routed troops, gradually moving away from the battlefield. It wasn't until dawn that he stopped and looked back around.

The original 20,000 troops had dwindled to only a few hundred, and the generals under his command had also scattered, leaving only Wei You.

Li Heng stared blankly at the scene, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground. His mind was blank, his heart was dead, and he didn't even have the strength to cut his own throat.

Seeing this, Wei You stepped forward and pulled him up: "General! Our army has not been completely wiped out! The Jin bandits don't have superhuman eyes; they couldn't possibly have slaughtered our entire army at night! Most of our men are scattered along the banks of the Wo River. If you don't pull yourself together, they will truly be extinct!"

Li Heng stared blankly up at the sky, his mind still a blank.

Seeing this, Wei You became extremely anxious. He hardened his heart and swung his hand, slapping the man several times across the face: "Ah Heng, snap out of it! Snap out of it!"

"Ah!!!" Li Heng broke free from Wei You's arm, stared with bloodshot eyes, and roared to the sky.

Wei You staggered back two steps, and just as he was about to step forward again to help Li Heng regain his senses, Li Heng pushed him away again: "That's enough, I... I'm fine."

"The military envoy to Xia Cai was sent out yesterday. Has anyone returned?"

Although his staff and even his personal guards had all scattered, Li Heng, still clinging to the hope, asked, "Has anyone seen him?"

Everyone around was panting, and some whispered to each other, but no one spoke up.

Wei You interjected, "Steward, don't think about it. The military envoy was sent out yesterday before the Jin army arrived, so he must have already arrived in Xia Cai and given Zhang Xianggong the military intelligence."

But given the chaos yesterday, even if the military commander were to return, he wouldn't be able to come to the central army.

Wei You paused for a moment, then said loudly and resolutely, "In any case, as long as Prime Minister Yu receives the military intelligence, he will surely send a fierce general to meet us. If we travel a few more miles south and make contact with Wang Fang's fleet, we should be able to rendezvous with the reinforcements!"

Upon hearing this, the morale of the many defeated soldiers was slightly boosted.

Wei You, seizing the opportunity, said to Li Heng, "General, I'll gather the defeated troops here. You should quickly go find Wang Fang and the reinforcements. Once they've joined forces, we can stabilize our formation. This battle still has a chance. After all, the Jin bandits have come from a long march and fought all night. They're not made of iron; how can they not be exhausted?"

Li Heng knew that Wei You was not only gathering the defeated soldiers here, but also trying to hold off the pursuing Jin army for Li Heng.

In the dim light of dawn, Li Heng nodded slightly, but then shook his head and said, "Ah You, what you say makes sense, but I will still gather the troops here..."

Seeing that Wei You was about to object, Li Heng simply waved his hand: "Ayou, you have more important things to do. Go to Xuzhou, find Lord Wei, and tell him that the Jin invaders have made their final gamble, and their fresh troops have all appeared. Now is the time to make a name for ourselves, and we hope that Lord Wei can lead the Jingnan Army to our aid!"

Li Heng deliberately misrepresented the Loyal and Righteous Army as the Jingnan Army.

Because many generals in the Huaidong Army had fought alongside the Jingnan Army in Chaoxian, the deeds of the Jingnan Army naturally circulated in the army, and people knew that the Jingnan Army was a rare elite force.

Sure enough, the defeated soldiers who were resting nearby began to whisper among themselves again after hearing the name of the Jingnan Army, and their spirits were slightly lifted.

Wei You knew his mission was extremely important, because in the current situation, true heroes were needed to turn the tide. Li Xianzong's position seemed perfectly appropriate, but to put it bluntly, which Song general felt he was inappropriate for this northern expedition?

Wasn't Li Heng the same? And what was the result? Wasn't he utterly defeated by the Jin army's main force in a surprise attack?
Wei Sheng's ability to control Shandong was certainly not something the Jin invaders handed over easily; he must have fought many tough battles. Compared to Li Xianzong, Wei You trusted his distant relative more.

"In that case, I hope Chief Steward Li will take care of himself and preserve his life so that we can plan for the future!" Wei You didn't hesitate. He mounted his tired warhorse again, then turned around with a few personal guards and rode away towards the rising sun.

Li Heng, supporting his knees and panting heavily, watched Wei You gradually disappear into the distance. Suddenly remembering something, he muttered to himself, "I should have gone to find Deng Jiu and asked him to go with Ayou. That way, when they get to Liu Bao, there would be someone to cover for them, and they wouldn't have a direct confrontation... Sigh..."

One of Li Heng's personal guards, with keen hearing, moved his lips slightly upon hearing this, but still mustered his courage and said, "I saw Brother Deng Jiu from afar earlier. During his breakout, he charged into the Jin cavalry, but I don't know if his horse was exhausted or injured, but he fell over. Brother Deng Jiu couldn't get up, and then dozens of Jin cavalrymen trampled over him..."

Li Heng was slightly taken aback, and then could only sigh again.

Although Wei You set off late and his warhorses were exhausted, he was still a small force and was much faster.

Therefore, on the evening of the second day of the sixth lunar month, Wei You and Liu Bao arrived at the banks of the Huan River almost at the same time, facing Qixian County, an important town on the Huan River, across the river.

After discovering Li Bao's whereabouts, Wei You couldn't help but glance at him sideways.

Qixian County is located in the very center of Suzhou. This means that Liu Bao led more than 4,000 soldiers and marched about 80 li in a single day and night, crossing half of Suzhou. In that era, this was quite a military miracle.

Qixian County was a vassal state that existed since the time of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It gradually developed and became an important town on the Huan River, a place of great strategic importance.

This is the place where Qin general Wang Jian killed Xiang Yan when he attacked Chu; it was also the first city captured after Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising in Dazexiang; a thousand years later, there is a market town called Shuangduiji in the southwest of Qixian County, which is one of the main battlefields of the Huaihai Campaign of the People's Republic of China.

Given Qixian's strategic location, it's no surprise that a semi-permanent pontoon bridge spans the Huan River, connecting the county seat. And it's only natural that a military camp guards the southern end of the pontoon bridge.

"General, should we go knock on the door?!"

Although Wei You had already spotted Liu Bao's banner in the distance, he did not approach it. Instead, he and a few attendants reined in their horses and stopped.

Upon hearing the question from his personal guard, Wei You merely sneered: "Let's see what Chief Steward Liu does. Let's rest for a while."

His personal guards nodded repeatedly. He turned to look at the approaching Han cavalrymen, hung his bow and sword beside his saddle, and then went forward empty-handed to show that he had no hostile intentions.

Ignoring the approaching scouts, Liu Bao, his old face covered in soot, stood before the camp and roared, "Open the gate! Open the gate now! I am Liu Bao, the Deputy Commander of Huaidong of the Great Song Dynasty! Let my army in immediately, I have important news to tell you!"

An officer on the watchtower of the camp initially seemed about to turn around and report, but upon hearing Liu Bao's name, he looked the man up and down and then asked loudly, "Are you General Liu, who visited Suqian last year?"

Although Liu Bao felt somewhat embarrassed upon hearing this, he still nodded and replied, "That is indeed me!"

The Han general on the watchtower burst into laughter, then picked up his longbow, nocked an arrow, and shot it out in one swift motion before anyone could react.

Liu Bao's warhorse let out a neigh and then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Liu Bao fell flat on his face, and his bodyguards rushed forward to help him up.

The Han army officer on the watchtower kept shouting, "You old bastard, when you plundered Suqian that day, did you ever think of this day?! Falling into my hands is the will of Heaven!"

No sooner had the cursing of Shan Ding, the garrison commander of Suzhou, fallen than the heavily guarded gates of the military camp burst open, and Han infantrymen, like wolves and tigers, surged out and charged toward Liu Bao.

Wei You and the others stared in disbelief at the scene. One of the guards swallowed hard and then said with difficulty, "General, let's go to Xuzhou instead. This place... this place is not a safe place either!"

Wei You looked at the Han cavalry gradually closing in, then looked up at the darkening sky, and then looked around at his exhausted personal guards. He could only shake his head and sigh: "Liu Bao may have some grudges with the Jingnan army, but we are different. We are comrades who fought side by side in Chaoxian. As long as we enter the camp, how could we not have a bowl of hot porridge?"

It's unclear whether Wei You has acquired the ability to make his words come true, but as soon as he finished speaking, his stomach began to rumble.

(End of this chapter)