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

Chapter 789 The General Dies After a Hundred Battles (Part 1)
At dawn, the sun rises.

Having already eaten their fill, the three thousand loyal soldiers bravely charged out and attacked the Jin army camp.

To be honest, Wei Sheng's surprise attack caught all the Jin generals off guard.

Because the Loyal Army had only launched night raids in the past few days, the Jin army had developed a certain inertia and assumed that the Loyal Army only had the night raid tactic.

Not to mention, just a few hours earlier, several groups of loyalist troops had attacked but were repelled by the Jin army, which further led to the Jin army's complacency.

This kind of negligence is fatal.

The three thousand loyal soldiers did not disperse to attack, but instead all went out of the north gate, formed a battle formation, and launched a fierce attack.

The Jin cavalry responsible for guarding the perimeter of the camp quickly assembled, forming a force of over two hundred riders, and then swiftly advanced to harass and disrupt the formation of the Loyal Army soldiers.

However, even without the Ruyi War Chariot, the Loyal Army was not something that ordinary cavalry could shake. Two teams of spearmen and two teams of archers stopped in their tracks, turned around and formed ranks. First, a volley of crossbow bolts shot down more than a dozen Jin soldiers. Then, the spearmen launched a surprise attack in a horizontal formation, which directly crushed the two hundred Jin armored cavalry who had gotten too close.

Standing atop the watchtower, Shi Dunzhong was both shocked and furious at the scene before him. He pounded his fist on the wooden railing with his right fist, shouting, "What kind of battle is this? What kind of battle is Gao Shi fighting? I will definitely kill this Bohai bastard!"

The other generals, however, didn't care about the fate of the Bohai military advisor, but anxiously asked, "Grand Commandant, a large force of Shandong bandits is attacking! What should we do?!"

Shi Dunzhong drew his riding whip and lashed it hard across the face of the person who had asked the question: "What's the panic?! What else can we do? We'll deal with whatever comes our way. Are you all dead men? Give us a good beating!"

The general who had asked the question covered the whip marks on his face, dared not speak, and immediately ran down the watchtower towards his own troops.

The Jin army, having endured several night raids, was exhausted. Many soldiers who had been on high alert the previous night were still asleep. Upon hearing the drums signaling the start of the battle, they instinctively stood up, but were noticeably weak due to lack of rest.

Regardless, the Jin army besieging Qixian was composed of elite troops selected from the two Jin states, East and West. Even though they were exhausted, they still began to lead their horses and form ranks to meet the enemy under the pressure of military discipline.

However, it is only natural that the speed of the Jin army's various tactical movements has become somewhat slow.

All these factors combined resulted in the following on the battlefield: the Loyal Army had reached the Jin army's camp fence, but the Jin army's archers had not yet fully assembled. For a time, only a few scattered arrows were shot out from the camp, landing sparsely on the heads of the Loyal Army soldiers.

"Quick, put on the lasso!"

"Let's pull together!"

"Archers! Advance!"

"Shoot those bastards to death!"

With almost no resistance, the Loyal Army quickly threw the lasso onto the camp fence, and then dozens of men and several horses pulled together, soon making the wooden fence twist and turn.

Wei Sheng, positioned slightly behind the central army, sat high on his horse, surveying his surroundings and rapidly assessing the military situation.

He knew that this plan was far too risky. Both the troop assembly and the attack were too hasty, to the point that life and death, success or failure, were somewhat at the mercy of fate.

However, Wei Sheng knew that as long as the Jin army had explosives, they would always have the strategic initiative and could launch attacks at any time, while the Loyal Army could only be on high alert at all times to defend.

If this continues, the Loyal Army will be worn down sooner or later.

Moreover, explosives are not heavy siege weapons; they can be loaded onto wagons and transported around.

If this attack fails and the clever people in the Jin army discover the Zhongyi Army's purpose, then Wei Sheng may never be able to find the location of the explosives again.

This is your only chance.

Even if there are countless difficulties, we must destroy the Jin army's explosives!
Li Huo'er, at the forefront, had already breached the outer wall of the Jin army camp. Then, several hundred armored soldiers led the way, pushing open the gate and engaging the hastily assembled Jin army in battle.

"Let's go too!" Seeing that Li Huo'er's banner had already stormed into the camp, Wei Sheng did not hesitate at all and led his five hundred long-armored soldiers forward slowly: "Press in!"

"Kill the thief!"

As Wei Sheng's banner moved, the entire Loyal Army was roused and charged fiercely into the Jin army camp with a do-or-die attitude.

This naturally caught the Jin army off guard, causing them to become somewhat flustered.

When Kiyotomi Kagaya, who had already led his troops to the outskirts of the battlefield, saw this scene, he was taken aback, but he quickly made his own judgment.

This must be the Loyal Army trying to break through!

The Jin army has a large number of cavalry. If they were to engage the enemy with infantry cavalry within the camp, it would be a case of using their own weakness to attack the enemy's strength. Instead, the better strategy would be to use light cavalry to harass and contain the enemy in the vast space surrounding the camp, and then, when the Loyal Army's formation was in disarray, to use armored cavalry to charge and trample them.

Therefore, after only a slight hesitation, Kiyotomi Kagaya sent the two thousand fresh troops he had gathered further north to lay his trap.

"Kiyoshi Kagaya!" Shi Dunzhong rode up, almost shouting, "Why are you the only one here?! Where are the reinforcements?"

Upon hearing this, Kiyotomi Kagaya almost immediately became furious.

Despite his subservient demeanor before Heshilie Liangbi, Jia Gu Qingchen, as a leading figure among the younger generation of the Jin state, could not possibly lack status, nor could he lack the arrogance nurtured by status and power.

"Shi Dunzhong, who gave you the audacity to speak to me like that?!" Jia Gu Qingchen looked down at him arrogantly, stroking the bronze mace beside his saddle and coldly saying, "If you have the guts, repeat what you just said!"

Shi Dunzhong dared not be rude again, and said anxiously from his horse, "General Jiagu, I was too hasty. Our northern camp has been thrown into chaos. If reinforcements do not arrive soon, we may suffer a crushing defeat!"

Jia Gu Qingchen's voice remained firm: "That is of course your incompetence. The four thousand regular troops of the Beida Camp were well-rested and ready to fight, yet they were easily attacked by the traitor Zhongyi. Who can you blame?"

"But……"

Jia Gu Qingchen interrupted him directly and continued, "Shi Dunzhong, if you still want to save face for your family's Marshal Du, you should return to the Northern Camp now, gather your troops, and do your best to deal with the loyal and righteous traitors, so as to create an opportunity for us!"

Helpless, Shi Dunzhong bowed and turned his horse away.

Kiyotomi Kagaya remained on the small hill, waiting for the mobile forces of the East and West Battalions to converge on him.

However, just as Jia Gu Qingchen had gathered five mouke, which is more than four hundred armored cavalry, he discovered that Shi Dunzhong had returned.

This time, Kiyotomi Kagaya truly intended to kill him.

As a military commander, repeatedly leaving his post is nothing short of dereliction of duty.
Jia Gu Qingchen had made up his mind that if Shi Dunzhong caused any more trouble this time, he would kill him on the spot to uphold military law!
Just as he was calculating in his mind, Shi Dunzhong arrived again on horseback, his face showing obvious panic. Ignoring the presence of ordinary soldiers, he roared, "General Jiagu! Quickly send troops to help me! The Shandong bandits are not trying to break out, but to go to the gunpowder camp!"

Upon hearing this, Kiyotomi Kagaya's first reaction was to reach for the bronze mace again, looking at Ishi Dunzhong's shiny forehead, wanting to finish him off with a single blow.

"Now that you know where the Shandong bandits are, why don't you try to organize troops to transport the gunpowder instead of arguing with me? Do you think I can fly there right now?"

Jia Gu Qingchen shouted loudly, and without having time to deal with Shi Dunzhong, he immediately led the four hundred armored cavalry that had just been assembled into the North Camp.

Shi Dunzhong's face was pale and uncertain, both ashamed and angry, but he knew that he was the one who caused the trouble, so he could not refute it for the time being. He could only follow Jia Gu Qingchen to his own camp.

Furthermore, neither Jia Gu Qingchen nor Shi Dunzhong initially expected that the Zhongyi Army's target was explosives. This was not because they were stupid, but because Wei Sheng had played a trick.

After the Loyal Army stormed into the Jin army's northern camp, they did not immediately set it on fire, nor did they rush towards the east side of the camp where explosives were stored. Instead, they charged towards the west side of the camp.

Only after defeating a Jin army group of about four hundred men did the Loyal Army suddenly turn east and head straight for the Jin army's gunpowder camp.

By this time, even the foolish Shi Dunzhong had figured it out. However, after realizing the truth, he naturally became flustered and reflexively sought help from Jia Gu Qingchen.

Although Kiyotomi Kagaya was extremely angry with Shi Dunzhong, he had no choice but to clean up the mess for this guy.

Meanwhile, the loyal and righteous army was also engaged in a fierce battle.

After the initial burst of courage dissipated, the fatigue from days of continuous battles gradually began to affect the army's operations, and the offensive slowed down.

But at this very moment, the Loyal Army encountered a tough nut to crack.

The existence of the gunpowder battalion was kept secret within the Jin army. However, since the Jin army was hastily assembled, it was particularly difficult to keep secrets. Therefore, Heshilie Liangbi simply placed the gunpowder battalion among the most elite troops and strictly prohibited them from approaching, in order to protect the safety of the gunpowder battalion.

Therefore, when the loyal army turned around, they encountered the Jin army soldiers who had already assembled. The Jin army soldiers were not many in number, only eight Mouke, but they were the elite of the Western Jin. After they formed a formation, the loyal army had no chance to break through.

"Have Li Huo'er go around to the left and right, I'll deal with these Jin traitors myself!" Wei Sheng ordered only after his longsword-wielding soldiers had formed their ranks: "Have Li Huo'er immediately detonate the Jin traitors' explosives! Don't waste time!"

After the military envoy gave the order to set off, Wei Sheng personally led his long-sword-wielding guards forward at a slow pace.

However, as soon as the battle began, they heard the thunderous sound of horses' hooves and deafening battle cries behind them.

Wei Sheng looked back and saw a large banner leading hundreds of armored cavalrymen approaching, charging towards the rear of the loyal army with a desperate posture.

The large banner bearing the character "Yu" representing the rearguard general Yu Yuan was teetering on the brink of collapse under the onslaught of hundreds of cavalrymen. It lasted for less than a quarter of an hour before crashing down.

(End of this chapter)