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

Chapter 877 The Flames of War Enter Bianliang (Part 2)
Bianliang was, after all, the core of Western Jin's rule at that time, and the speed at which news could be transmitted was unmatched by other places.

News of the massacre of the Meng'an Mouke households in the southern part of Kaifeng spread rapidly in all directions, and those who had originally wanted to welcome the heavenly army immediately became docile.

They also realized that the Han army had a system and strictly adhered to it.

In other words, the Han army had extremely high political credibility.

But the Song army didn't have any!
The first thing the Song army did when they entered Youzhou was to plunder it thoroughly. How could they be any different now?

Therefore, when Pusan ​​Zhongyi led three thousand elite cavalry out of Bianliang City, the Meng'an and Mouke households around Kaifeng immediately responded, a stark contrast to their previous timid and hesitant demeanor.

Pu Sanzhongyi easily gathered 6,000 soldiers, and after joining forces with Wanyan Guangying, the number of cavalry had reached 8,000.

Although only about three thousand of them were truly capable of fighting tough battles, it was still a formidable force, demonstrating their united will.

The Jin army's primary target was naturally the Destroyer Army.

At this time, the Cui Pian Army had probably broken away from the Bei Wei Army, with the two sides about ten miles apart. Moreover, they were not separated to the left or right, but rather the Cui Pian Army was in the northeast and the Bei Wei Army was in the southwest.

Because the Jin army had a large number of cavalry, the connection between the two Song armies was cut off immediately.

"His Royal Highness."

"Marshal Du."

Pusan ​​Zhongyi and Wanyan Guangying stood side by side, watching the Jin army surround the Cui Pianjun in a village and immediately launch an attack. They remained silent, each lost in their own thoughts.

After a moment, Wanyan Guangying had his guards move away and asked directly, "Marshal, three garrison towns, two wealthy manor houses in Henan, and two towns have now fallen victim to the Song army's attacks."

Pu Sanzhongyi's face was as hard as iron as he slowly nodded: "Your subject understands."

Seeing this, Wanyan Guangying could no longer contain himself: "Marshal Du, did you foresee this all along?"

Pu Sanzhongyi nodded frankly: "Indeed, it was expected. I am not exaggerating. The casualties were much less than I thought."

Wanyan Guangying: "Does the Grand Marshal know that someone has scattered gold and silver around the garrison of Meng'an to lure the Song army to attack?"

Pu Sanzhongyi nodded repeatedly: "It was I who sent people to do it."

"kill!"

More than two thousand Jin soldiers dismounted, lined up in front of the village, shouted three battle cries, and immediately launched an attack.

The Song army's detachment seemed to know things were going to get bad, but because they had allies nearby, they didn't want to make a desperate breakout. Instead, they relied on the fences and earthen walls to block the Jin army's attack.

The Cui Pian Army was, after all, a crossbow unit, not an elite cavalry like the Bei Wei Army. If they were to leave their fortifications and engage the Jin army in mounted combat on the plains, they would be courting death.

The sudden outbreak of the battle caught Wanyan Guangying's attention, so much so that it took him a moment to realize what Pusan ​​Zhongyi had just said.

Wanyan Guangying was a wise man after all. He did not question or scold, but sighed repeatedly: "Marshal Du... Marshal Du, why did you have to go to such lengths!"

Seeing that the first volley of crossbow bolts from the Cui Pian Army had caused nearly a hundred casualties among the Jin soldiers, Pu Sanzhongyi frowned slightly and waved for reinforcements to follow. While giving orders, he continued speaking without pause: "Your Highness, there's nothing we can do about it."

This outcome was inevitable after His Highness failed to persuade Tudanli that day. Since we cannot persuade the people of Henan and the Jurchen people, let the Song army try to persuade them.”

After speaking, Pu Sanzhongyi fell silent. Only after seeing the fierce Jin soldiers in three layers of heavy armor push down the fence and rush into the manor did he turn around and look at Wanyan Guangying, whose expression was uncertain. He said sincerely, "Your Highness, what I fear most is actually people like Liu Dalang. He truly has the world in his heart, but he uses violence as a weapon to achieve his ambitions."

Even a veteran like Tu Danli, who had fought alongside the founding generals, believed that the Han army would not commit indiscriminate killings. In the past fifty years, only Yue Fei and Liu Dalang have achieved such a feat.

The Song army, and even our army, are no good, or rather, all the other troops in the world are just killing for the sake of killing.

These people thought that all military affairs were like those of the Han army, which only involved 11% of the troops being killed, but they did not know that the Han people's most common method was to spare no one, even the young and the old.

These past few days have also served as a wake-up call for people like Tu Danli, letting them know that Liu Dalang is currently preoccupied with Hebei and cannot attend to them.

If we remain in Bianliang, then we should prepare to beg for our lives under the Song army!

After finishing his speech, Pu Sanzhongyi seemed somewhat disheartened and shut up to watch the battle unfold.

Wanyan Guangying still didn't scold or blame him. He knew that as the garrison commander of Bianliang, these dirty tasks were his responsibility.

If Wanyan Guangying doesn't want to surrender and end things once and for all, he should transport as many people, grain, and wealth as possible to Luoyang.

"Marshal Du, can you tell me the whole plan now?"

“Of course it is.” Pu Sanzhongyi, who had previously worried that Wanyan Guangying might be too soft-hearted, became quite frank after completing the task: “First of all, Liu Dalang only gathered a little over ten thousand regular troops this winter, and many of them are Chenzhou soldiers who are not up to much use. This means that he does not want to fight a major war this year. Of course, given his current power, since he does not want to fight, naturally no one dares to force him. But this gives us an opportunity.”

I have already written to Wanyan Yong, instructing him to take advantage of Liu Dalang's presence near Bianliang to concentrate his forces and attack Shexian, thus closing the gates to Jin territory.

Wanyan Guangying listened quietly until this moment when he finally couldn't help but speak up: "This is asking Youzhou to pull chestnuts out of the fire for us; they won't agree to it."

Pu Sanzhongyi: "Indeed, Wulu is an extremely intelligent man, and he can naturally see through my little schemes at a glance. However, some things cannot be avoided just because they can be seen through."

For Liu Dalang, or rather for Hebei, Jin was ten times more important than Bianliang. Having finally conquered Jin and established a foothold, he was absolutely determined not to let go.

For Wulu, Jin was also the last flank barrier of Youyan. If Liu Dalang were to swallow up Jin, and even the Dai region further north, then Youyan and Liaodong would be indefensible.

Ulu had no choice.

Pu Sanzhongyi's tone was as cold as a winter wind: "We must take advantage of the two months that have passed since the Song people were defeated and Liu Dalang was distracted, and immediately enter Zhengzhou."

I have already sent Wanyan Yuanyi to garrison the Xingyang defense line. After two years of preparation, this place is ready, and even Liu Dalang's heavenly thunder weapons will find it difficult to breach immediately.

Wanyan Guangying nodded repeatedly, but hesitated at the last moment and asked, "Isn't this too much of a fluke?"

A slight smile finally appeared on Pu Sanzhongyi's stern face: "With the country at this point, even if there is only a 30% chance of success, we must do our best."

After thinking for a moment, Wanyan Guangying could only nod again.

The reason why the two high-ranking Jin officials were able to relax on the battlefield was that the Jin army had gained the upper hand, broke into the village, and engaged in close combat with the Cui Pian Army.

The Cui Pian Army was the elite force under Wu Gong, who was also the son and younger brother of Wu Jie. Therefore, the Cui Pian Army naturally inherited the Wu family army's tradition of being skilled in archery.

Putting aside everything else, just considering the garrison arrow, that is, the three-stage attack, the Destroyer Army has mastered it to perfection.

However, this requires the cooperation of terrain and even friendly forces. Even the most elite archers will lose more than 30% of their combat effectiveness when facing close combat.

It is true that only those with broad shoulders, thick waists and great strength can be crossbowmen, but what determines the outcome of a war is not just a person's physique.

The weapons carried, daily training, battle formation, and psychological preparation are the key factors in whether an army can win.

In the immediate moment, when the Jin army, armed with long and short weapons, charged into the village amidst a hail of arrows and dragged the Cui Pian Army into close combat, Shi Mengde immediately panicked.

The Cui Pian Army was not untrained in close combat, but for this lightly armed raid, it was already remarkable that a thousand men were equipped with bows and crossbows and short weapons. How could they possibly carry heavy weapons such as great axes?

After losing the Divine Arm Bow, a powerful armor-piercing weapon, the Destroyer Army found it difficult to even penetrate the armor of heavily armored soldiers, let alone kill them.

"No! We can't continue! Hasn't Grand Commandant Cheng arrived yet?" Shi Mengde couldn't care less about undermining morale: "Has the military envoy been sent out?"

The lieutenant's face also looked like he was about to cry: "The military envoys have naturally all been sent out, but there are too many Jin cavalry. I really don't know if we can find Grand Commandant Cheng..."

Another commander swallowed hard: "The Jin bandits have arrived with several thousand cavalry. They are so powerful that even a blind man could see them within twenty miles."

"Grand Commandant Cheng hasn't arrived yet. Has he already abandoned us?!"

Upon hearing this, the surrounding generals and guards all turned pale.

Shi Mengde stomped his foot on the spot: "I told you we couldn't go far! You were all blinded by those rich women. What are you going to do now? You bunch of bastards! You're going to kill me!"

The lieutenant was speechless and felt a pang of regret.

However, Shi Mengde seemed to be merely venting his emotions. He only cursed a couple of times before stopping. Seeing more and more Jin soldiers rushing into the village, he hesitated for a moment before stamping his foot again: "No! We must leave now! Head south! Tell the men to head south. Even if we can't escape back to Nanyang, we can go to Chenzhou! There's always a way to survive!"

The lieutenant quickly grabbed Shi Mengde's arm, his lips trembling: "This... the Jin bandits have many cavalry. We can hold out in the manor, but how many people will die if we go to the plains..."

Shi Mengde broke free from the adjutant's grasp: "What foolish thing have you done! Holding out in the manor will only result in being completely surrounded, and the result will be death!"
Our troops are all equipped with horses. Once we escape, the Henan plains are easily accessible in all directions. No matter how many Jin cavalry there are, how can they possibly stop us all!

Having said that, Shi Mengde went ahead to Zhuangzi's place.

The lieutenant reached out to stop him again, but only managed to grab a corner of Shi Mengde's robe.

But Shi Mengde didn't stop for a moment, letting the deputy general tear off a strip of cloth, and left without looking back.

Moments later, the four gates of the manor swung open, and the Song army poured out.

Pu Sanzhongyi sneered, "I knew the Song people were useless! Tell all the troops at the front not to block them all, but to inflict more casualties!"

(End of this chapter)