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

Chapter 984 The Fish Scale Formation Takes Shape

"Be greedy for credit and reckless? In my position, even if I wanted to be greedy for credit and reckless, where could I go? To steal water from the Yellow River?"

Li Ziyuan didn't hide anything from his trusted brothers, and responded with self-deprecation.

Hou Gaolang pulled on the horse's reins and craned his neck to look northwest.

However, with soldiers advancing in droves, banners waving, and dust rising everywhere, how could one possibly see who was leading the charge?
"Stop looking." Li Ziyuan grinned and said, "At the very front is that fellow Zuo Shiyuan, and behind him is Shao Taiwei's eldest son, Shao Shixiong."

Hou Gaolang was somewhat surprised: "Old Zuo does have some skills, and he can be considered a veteran. But what is Shao Shixiong? He's just a spoiled brat who knows nothing about military affairs. How can he command an army?"

Li Ziyuan scoffed, "What can Grand Commandant Shao do? He might want to find fierce generals like Sun Wang and Li Wenhuai, but where can he find them? He just left those two on the battlefield to die!"

The two exchanged only a few words when a commotion broke out ahead, and soon a scout came galloping to report.

"General, cavalry is attacking from the front! They're flying the banner of the Great Blue Rhinoceros!"

Li Ziyuan was slightly taken aback: "Is it really Xin Qiji who personally came out of the city to fight?"

The scout was also taken aback: "Reporting to the general, I don't know which one is named Xin Qiji, but I only saw a large blue rhinoceros on the leading banner, and the Left General was also calling out this name, so I just said it out of the blue."

Li Ziyuan was somewhat speechless, then waved his hand: "Investigate further and report back!"

"Order!"

After the military envoy left, Li Ziyuan was about to say something when he saw a black flag being raised in front of him, followed by several other large flags being erected, and the drumbeats changing accordingly. He was even more speechless.

"Old Hou, you must say that Wei You is simply foolish to activate such a powerful formation at this time, when we've only traveled less than ten miles into the main road."

As Li Ziyuan ordered the army to stop, he watched as Wei You's three thousand men slowly unfolded from their marching ranks, first into a horizontal formation, and then into a square formation.

Then, the soldiers in the rear donned their armor and took turns with the armored soldiers marching in front. The archers nocked their crossbows, and it took nearly half an hour to complete the formation before they steadily advanced.

Hou Gaolang shaded his eyes with his hand, looked at the Lüliang Mountains, then at the surging Yellow River beside him, and couldn't help but sigh: "If we go further, things might be fine. At that time, the two miles to the north and south can be well protected by Lao Zuo's main force. But now it's seven or eight miles to the north and south. If Wei You doesn't step up and stand shoulder to shoulder with Lao Zuo, the Great Blue Rhinoceros will come around from the side."

Upon hearing this, Li Ziyuan felt another wave of frustration, and the scar on his lip turned slightly purple: "If you ask me, it would be better to let the Great Blue Rhinoceros come around. With so many of our troops, do you think we'd be afraid of a thousand or so cavalrymen from the Great Blue Rhinoceros? It doesn't matter which way he comes around; we can just fight on the spot. I want to see whether my army forces him into the mountains, or he pushes me into the Yellow River!"

Hou Gaolang nodded repeatedly, but then something occurred to him, and he looked at Li Ziyuan with a strange expression: "Old Li, didn't you say you were going to side with Liu Dalang that day? Why are you now determined to fight to the bitter end?"

Li Ziyuan grinned: "Old Hou, you're wrong. It's not that I want to surrender, but that I'm persuading the Grand Commandant to surrender. I do want to join Fei Hu Zi, and I think that joining Fei Hu Zi is the best outcome for Grand Commandant Li. However, if Grand Commandant Li wants to be loyal to the Song Dynasty, then I will be loyal to him."

Grand Commandant Li has shown me immense kindness, a debt of gratitude as heavy as a mountain. Old Marquis, do you really think I'm afraid of death?

Hou Gaolang nodded repeatedly, and was about to speak when he saw another military envoy galloping up from the front: "General Li, my Left General said that you are in charge of the second battle, so you should be prepared. You must not delay the important military and national affairs of the Great Song Dynasty!"

Li Ziyuan's expression changed, then he sneered: "Old Zuo, Young Master Shao, and Wei You's combined forces are nearly ten thousand, and they're pressing forward with a large formation. Don't tell me they were defeated by the Great Blue Rhinoceros with only a thousand cavalry!"

The military envoy gripped the reins and circled around before saying, "Since no fighting broke out earlier, the Great Blue Rhinoceros naturally dared not attack when it saw our army in such a formation. However, our cavalry is few, so it is impossible to completely drive them away."

My general said, "Consider defeat before victory; it's always good for General Li to make more preparations!"

Li Ziyuan still sneered: "Then please thank Grand Commandant Zuo for me, and wish him to become a real Grand Commandant soon with this merit in battle!"

The military envoy sensed something amiss in the conversation and, finding it rather uninteresting, immediately bowed and rode away.

Watching the military envoy depart, Li Ziyuan turned to Hou Gaolang and said, "Old Hou, I look down on those fools and don't believe their words, but I have to command the troops here and can't leave. I'll have to trouble you to go to the front lines and check on the situation for me."

Hou Gaolang readily agreed, and then, with a few personal guards, he rode along the small path left beside the official road for the military envoys to pass through, and galloped towards the front.

Furthermore, once the marching troops are deployed into a military formation, their marching speed will inevitably decrease sharply.

When King Wu of Zhou was conquering King Zhou of Shang, he once said, "Today's task is to stop after advancing about six or seven steps and then reorganize the ranks."

Even during the Song-Jin period, due to the development of military technology, the Song army made great progress in military command, but it was still impossible for them to advance together while shouting "Eat, eat, eat!" like the Han army.

This allowed Hou Gaolang to easily catch up with the front lines and reach the very front of the formation.

Then he could clearly see the huge blue rhinoceros banner, and even make out the expression of the burly knight beneath it.

Xin Qiji, with two heavy swords at his waist and a long spear in his hand, silently gazed at the Song army's arrayed formation.

Looking at his elder brother's expression, Pengcheng Magistrate Xin Wenyuan then carefully examined the Song army that had deployed its large formation and was approaching step by step. He couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Fifth Brother, are you thinking of a way to defeat the enemy?"

Xin Qiji shook his head: "I wasn't thinking about anything."

Xin Wenyuan immediately blushed slightly: "Fifth Brother, please don't joke." Xin Qiji's face remained expressionless: "I'm not joking, I really don't know what to think..."

He didn't keep them in suspense. He stretched out his long spear and pointed to the slowly approaching Song army formation: "If you say these Song soldiers are cowardly, they dared to abandon two unconquered cities behind them and launch a rapid attack on Pengcheng. They have the same spirit as our Han army."

"These Song soldiers are known for their bravery, yet when facing a thousand of our cavalry, they arrayed tens of thousands of them in a massive formation, advancing in close formation."

After Xin Qiji finished speaking, a look of amusement and exasperation finally appeared on his face: "And the Song army generals are also hard to judge as wise or foolish. Even if they can force our army to retreat for a while, they don't seem to think that with the Song army's usual formation training, how could they possibly march dozens of miles in a large formation without getting into chaos?"

Xin Wenyuan suddenly realized, then became somewhat uneasy: "Doesn't that mean we can't deal with the Song army for the time being?"

Xin Wenyuan had one more thing he didn't say.

Once you pass the mountain pass where the Lüliang Mountains meet the Yellow River, and travel three or four miles northwest along the Yellow River, you will reach the largest ferry crossing around Pengcheng.

Ferry crossings often also function as markets, where large-scale trade and transportation of goods are frequently conducted.

Now that the Song army has bypassed Suqian and Xiapi, there is no time for a scorched-earth policy around Pengcheng. Not to mention the large amount of goods at the ferry crossing, there are also many civilians there. If the Song army gets close, things will get really messy!

Faced with his cousin's question, Xin Qiji simply smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if there are no flaws. Sooner or later, flaws will be revealed. What we need to do now is simply to force the Song army to reveal their flaws sooner."

"Xin Wenyuan!"

Upon learning that a military order was about to be issued, Xin Wenyuan jumped to his feet: "Your subordinate is here!"

"Lead the troops to retreat slowly, and do not engage the Song army in battle!"

"Here!"

"Chen Wenben!"

"exist!"

"I'm giving you one hundred cavalrymen to harass the Song army's left flank! Note: Do not engage in battle!"

"Order!"

"Liu Zheng! You lead this capital and come with me!"

Xin Qiji spoke swiftly, and after issuing several orders, he immediately led his own Green Rhinoceros Banner and, together with a hundred Flying Tiger Armored Cavalry, charged toward the right flank of the Song army, which was the side closer to the Lüliang Mountains.

The Song army scouts and cavalry gathered together, trying to harass and obstruct the enemy, but they were easily defeated by the Flying Tiger cavalry. Often, three or four men would chase after more than ten Song soldiers.

"Stop!"

When Wei You, who was commanding his troops on the right wing at the front, saw the Azure Rhinoceros Banner getting closer and closer, his heart skipped a beat, and he immediately took the most conservative measures.

"Great shield and long spearmen, advance! Crossbowmen, prepare! If the Great Blue Rhinoceros dares to come, shoot it dead!"

As a veteran who had participated in the Battle of Chaoxian and the Battle of Huaibei, Wei Youke knew all too well how terrifying the Jingnan army was.

Now, as the commander of the Great Blue Rhinoceros Army, also known as the Deputy Commander of the King of Han, even if only a hundred riders have come, they cannot be underestimated.

Xin Qiji naturally wouldn't attempt to charge a massive infantry formation of ten thousand men with just a hundred armored cavalrymen. Therefore, upon seeing the Song army's tight formation, he simply reined in his horse and stopped a short distance away.

The two sides ended up in a stalemate.

Of course, the halting of the Song army's right flank was not without consequences; at the very least, the middle of the front line had to stop as well, in order to ensure that the entire front line advanced in unison.

However, Zuo Shiyuan in the middle did not get angry.

Although he had not participated in the Battle of Chaoxian, he had participated in the Battle of Huaibei, and in the final stage he watched Liu Huai lead the Flying Tiger Cavalry into the formation and easily capture Shao Hongyuan. Therefore, in his opinion, it was never wrong to be cautious when facing the Han army.

However, just as Zuo Shiyuan ordered the army to form ranks and turn to look at the two thousand Song soldiers on the left flank, he couldn't help but feel a sense of panic.

When faced with the provocation of over a hundred armored cavalry led by Chen Wenben, the Song army did not stop to straighten their ranks, but instead pressed forward in formation.

Fuck!
They completely forgot about this young master who had no experience whatsoever and was leading troops for the first time!

"Old He!" Zuo Shiyuan hurriedly said to his trusted general, "You stay here and make arrangements for me, I'll be right back!"

Having said that, Zuo Shiyuan couldn't wait for the deputy general's response. He led more than ten personal guards around the rear of the formation and charged directly towards the left flank.

(End of this chapter)