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

Chapter 795 Border Reports Convey Military Intelligence (Part 1)
Xiao Cao Le surrendered so quickly that it even exceeded Xiao Zhongda's expectations.

Before Xiao Caole's more than two hundred soldiers could even engage in battle, they were blocked in the government office by Xiao Zhongda and several hundred ragtag troops.

Even at this point, Xiao Caole could still fight his way out with the strength of his armored soldiers. Those second-line garrison troops and patrolmen were no match for the elite Jurchen regular army.

However, after Xiao Zhongda climbed onto the roof and loudly recounted the outcome of the Battle of Damingfu in his Liaodong accent, Xiao Caole, the commander-in-chief, was the first to lose his fighting spirit.

The Battle of Daming Prefecture was tightly sealed off by Bianliang. Although news of the battle had already spread among the Jin army in Xia Cai, Qiao County, which served as a transit point, remained completely unaware of it.

However, Xiao Caole was also a veteran who had been in the military for a long time. How could he not notice something was wrong from the messages coming from the north and south?

Therefore, Xiao Caole believed Xiao Zhongda's story almost immediately.

The Jin dynasty is about to lose Hebei, and Liu Huai is about to become the ruler of Hebei. Shouldn't these Khitan people whose homes are in Hebei consider their own future and that of their families?

After Xiao Cao Le surrendered, the rest was easy.

Xiao Zhongda personally took a knife and, starting with Xiao Caole, asked each of the Jin soldiers whether they wanted to become Hu people or Han people.

Those who wished to remain barbarians were to be executed on the spot; those who wished to become Han Chinese were to have their queues shaved off, be covered with turbans, and immediately change their surnames and given names to Han surnames.

After working around the clock for half the night, Xiao Zhongda managed to assemble a small cavalry force, mainly composed of Khitans, numbering less than two hundred, but enough to get things done.

Qiao County, as an important transportation hub on the Wo River, had stockpiled a large amount of grain and fodder. Xiao Zhongda used this grain and fodder to gather the scattered and fleeing conscripted soldiers, and took the opportunity to recruit troops under the pretext of killing the Jin invaders and avenging his blood feud, thus gaining 3,000 soldiers.

After assembling an army of 5,000, Xiao Zhongda led these ragtag troops along the Wo River, conquering cities and territories, and wiping out the Meng'an and Mouke households, showing a strong momentum to reclaim Bozhou in one fell swoop.

The news of Xiao Zhongda's great achievements in Bozhou could not be kept secret. In fact, among the Jin army soldiers who had just surrendered, two or three were loyal ministers and generals of the Jin. When they went out of the city to gather the conscripted soldiers the next day, they took advantage of the chaos and fled south.

However, in this era, the speed at which news travels is still slower than that of a galloping horse.

On the morning of July 10, the more than 10,000 Jin soldiers, who were in Qixian County and unaware that their retreat had been cut off, disregarded the casualties and chaos of the previous day, came out of their camp, lined up, and prepared to attack the city.

Wei Sheng stood atop the city wall, half of his arm bare, stroking his beard in silence.

The physician was hurriedly treating Wei Sheng's wounds. Yesterday's battle was extremely fierce. Wei Sheng took the lead and led his long-sword armored soldiers to break through the enemy lines. However, the Jin army's armored cavalry was as numerous as clouds and armored soldiers as heavy as rain. Under the attack of all kinds of weapons, Wei Sheng, despite wearing three layers of heavy armor, could not escape the armor-piercing arrows and heavy weapons.

"Marshal, the bones are fine, it's just some bruises on the flesh."

After a thorough examination, the physician breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The arrows were blocked by the armor, so the wounds are not deep, but they have still damaged the skin and flesh. The most critical issue is the old wound on my arm. It hadn't fully healed before I exerted myself, and now the wound has reopened. I'll have to change the dressing and stitch it up again."

Wei Sheng didn't say anything, he just nodded.

However, Lu You, who was standing to the side, frowned and said, "Marshal, you should just stay in the center and make the necessary deployments. Under no circumstances should you participate in the battle."

Wei Sheng remained silent for a long time, until the physician finished stitching up the wound again and left, before he finally spoke seriously: "Mr. Lu, something seems amiss in this battle."

Lu You immediately perked up: "I'd like to hear the details."

Wei Sheng did not answer. He watched as the Jin army carried the makeshift ladders out of the camp. After a long silence, he said, "To be honest, yesterday's battle was so fierce that while our army suffered heavy casualties, the Jin invaders were not having an easy time either."

In my opinion, even if the Jin invaders are unwilling to give up and want to attack the city again, they will eventually need some time to win back the morale of their troops and build the Goose Cart Siege Tower.

And these extra days are the time I'll spend waiting for reinforcements. However…”

As he spoke, Wei Sheng pointed, encompassing the entire vanguard of the Jin army: "However, the Jin bandits' use of ant-like attacks to breach the city is truly inconceivable. They simply don't care about the lives of their elite soldiers."

Lu You's heart stirred slightly: "So, the Jin invaders are also in a hurry?"

Wei Sheng nodded: "That might be the case, but we don't know whether it's because reinforcements have already been sent, or because the Jin invaders want to quickly annihilate our army in order to make a more tactical response."

Lu You said somewhat nervously, "This...this should be a good thing, right?"

Wei Sheng nodded heavily again: "Of course it's a good thing. After all, without conscripting soldiers to wear us down, the Jin invaders will also be unable to change their tactics due to time constraints. Meanwhile, our army is in a superior position and can wait for the enemy to tire themselves out. Killing the Jin army is a piece of cake."

Lu You breathed a sigh of relief, but then heard Wei Sheng continue, "I hope Mr. Lu will continue to oversee the logistics camp. Neither the supply battalion nor the wounded soldiers' battalion can be in disarray at this time."

Lu You nodded repeatedly, said "Take care," and then quickly left.

After Lu You had gone far away, Wei Sheng's feigned relaxed smile completely disappeared, and he narrowed his phoenix eyes, staring intently at the Jin army camp outside the city.

How could it possibly be a good thing?

Judging from the fierce battles of the past few days, the Loyal and Righteous Army is not capable of annihilating this Jin army on its own, so it must wait for external support. Therefore, the Loyal and Righteous Army is the one that needs the most time. As long as the battle drags on, whether it is Yu Yunwen who has reacted, the garrison troops in southern Shandong, or the main force of the Han army in Hebei, they will eventually come to the rescue.

If the surrendered troops were to swarm the city like ants, it would play right into Wei Sheng's hands.

However, whether it was a change of heart or some other reason, the Jin army actually sent its regular armored soldiers to attack, which meant that a brutal war of attrition would begin immediately.

In such a war of attrition, the attacking side undoubtedly holds an absolute strategic advantage.

The attacking side can fail a hundred times, but the defending side will suffer the consequences of losing the city and its inhabitants if they fail even once.

"I hereby issue an order for Yuchi Mingyue and Zhang Anguo to hold their positions. Today is the first day of the Jin invaders' serious attack on the city, and it will surely be the day with the fiercest momentum. As long as we suppress them, the next few days will be much easier."

The military envoy had just set off when the Jin army below the city made its move.

Light cavalry and armored cavalry galloped forward, while a small number of knights drew their bows and fired arrows at the city walls to suppress the enemy.

Most of the cavalrymen carried sacks filled with yellow soil on their backs. When they reached the moat below the city, they threw the sacks into the moat and then rode away.

At the same time, the Jin army's infantry formation was also slowly moving. A short distance away, the formation split into smaller formations, with swordsmen and shieldmen covering the archers as they advanced to exchange fire with the archers on the city wall.

Under their cover, squads of Jin soldiers carrying grappling hooks rapidly approached the city wall.

In an instant, the entire city of Qixian was filled with shouts of battle. The armored soldiers, who had previously been pampered and prepared for victory, became the most basic unit in this battle.

Both the Jin army and the loyalist army demonstrated their bravery with blood and lives, which made the battle between the two sides enter a white-hot stage from the very beginning.

While the fighting in Qixian was extremely arduous, the Song-Jin war in Xiacai also caused great distress to both sides.

Originally, the main force of the Jin state on the east bank of the Fei River totaled more than 35,000 men. After 15,000 elite troops were separated, Pusan ​​Zhongyi was left with only 20,000 men.

These troops could barely suppress the Cai-Song army, but they struggled to deal with the Chenzhou army on the other side of the Fei River at the same time.

Therefore, Pusan ​​Zhongyi chose to use a bluffing tactic, launching continuous attacks to maintain pressure on the Song army while showing off his military strength, thus maintaining a composed attitude towards the Chenzhou army.

However, at this point, Chen Zhoujun really couldn't care less about the situation on the other side of the Fei River.

They were completely enraged by the Song army led by Dai Gao and Zhang Zhen.

Ironically, the forces on the west bank of the Fei River were originally a detachment of the Song and Jin armies, meant to contain the enemy. But who would have thought that these two armies would become the most determined in their fighting and the most ruthless in their battles?

Moreover, although Heshi Lieliangbi broke his political promises and conscripted a large number of soldiers, which made the Henan Han soldiers extremely resentful, this actually resulted in the Chenzhou army having sufficient manpower and was not afraid of attrition warfare with the Song army.

With the Song and Jin armies backed by the Huai River region on one side and the heart of Henan on the other, both sides had ample manpower. They were also embroiled in a fierce battle, and the intensity of the fighting escalated day by day, drawing the attention of their respective commanders.

Now, the battle situation on the west side of Feishui has spiraled out of everyone's control, and even Shi Ju can only let his generals vent their anger in this way.

Pu Sanzhongyi, on the other hand, watched from the sidelines with the mindset of killing the Song army to eliminate external threats and killing the Han people to eliminate internal troubles.

However, Pu Sanzhongyi's nonchalant attitude and direct pressure led Yu Yunwen to make a major strategic misjudgment, and he dared not send troops to support the west bank of the Fei River.

The Song and Jin dynasties entered a very difficult strategic stalemate.

On the night of July 12, just as Yu Yunwen was handling military affairs, General Yang Chun personally led a man into the commander's tent.

The person who came was so exhausted that he could not even stand up. He collapsed to the ground and looked up at Yu Yunwen, who was behind the table with a surprised expression. For a moment, he was unable to speak.

Yu Yunwen immediately recognized the other person and said in surprise, "Second Brother Wei, what brings you here?"

From July 9th to now, a full four days have passed, and Wei Chang has only rested for less than five hours. He has eaten, drunk, and relieved himself on horseback the whole way, and several of his warhorses have died from exhaustion. Finally, he has crossed the enemy territory, which is 400 li in a straight line but actually nearly 700 li in distance. At this point, he is almost half dead.

Wei Chang's lips moved for a long time before his first words stunned Yu Yunwen: "The Jin invaders have besieged my father with 15,000 troops. My brother has already led his elite cavalry a thousand miles south to provide support. Why hasn't the Song army sent troops?"

After a moment of stunned silence, Yu Yunwen blurted out, "Didn't the Jin invaders only send five thousand troops to Xuzhou?"

Wei Chang was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then pounded the ground and roared, "Prime Minister Yu! My brother received the news four days ago in Danzhou, more than 700 li away. Does Prime Minister Yu mean that military intelligence couldn't be relayed even though it's less than 200 li away? Or does the Song army not even know the difference between 5,000 and 15,000?"

Yu Yunwen's breathing immediately became heavy.

He immediately realized something was amiss and looked at Yang Chun: "Make preparations and summon Li Jiedushi."

(End of this chapter)