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

Chapter 988 The Azure Rhinoceros Gallops Across Ten Thousand Armies (Part 2)
"General Zuo, my commander sent me to report that he has lost control of the troops. I hope you will make preparations as soon as possible!"

Zuo Shiyuan shook his head repeatedly: "It's one thing for Young Master Shao to be unable to control his troops, but why is Old Wei also panicking? Fine, tell him that I just received a military order from Grand Commandant Shao. If we really can't do anything, tell him to lead his troops to retreat into the Lüliang Mountains and not to attack the central army's main camp."

After watching the military envoy leave, Zuo Shiyuan immediately became dejected, and his face turned ashen in the cold wind.

At one point, this trusted subordinate of Shao Hongyuan even felt a fierce hatred for his own commander.

Why give up so easily?
Why use 10,000 men to carry out a ridiculous plan to lure the enemy?
Even if we could kill Xin Qiji in battle and annihilate those thousand Flying Tiger cavalry, would the Han army be crippled? Would there be no more tough battles to fight?

The annihilation of 10,000 Song soldiers must have been a tremendous blow to morale.
There's still hope for the front lines. Both Shao Hongyuan and Li Xianzong could suppress the unrest and stabilize the formation if they personally led their own banners to the front. Why give up now?

What does Shao Hongyuan consider the lives of the men of Lianghuai to be?!
However, the anger was fleeting.

Just as Li Ziyuan felt about Li Xianzong, Zuo Shiyuan was also powerless to resist the decisions made by Shao Hongyuan.

It's nothing more than dying together. After serving in the military for so many years, are we afraid of death?
Zuo Shiyuan was extremely dejected, but he did not stop himself from noticing that the situation on the battlefield was getting worse and worse, and the Song army was finding it increasingly difficult to support each other.

Of course, it's unreasonable to say that the Song army was about to be defeated, because it simply wasn't that bad.

At least the core personal guards of the generals in each unit can still be maintained, military law can still be enforced, and the morale of officers at all levels has not fallen to the point of being unusable. It's just that the military formation is rather chaotic. Ordinary soldiers in the midst of it, how could they feel the suffocating calm before the storm?
"Is that what Lao Zuo said?" Wei You was taken aback. "He's not thinking about how to win, but instead thinking about what to do if he loses?"

"No, he said he received a military order from Grand Commandant Shao! It was Grand Commandant Shao!"

At this point, Wei You's voice became somewhat shrill, and he turned around, staring fiercely at the Shao-character banner that could be seen in the distance.

"That scoundrel betrayed us all!"

The surrounding officers were momentarily panicked, but after exchanging glances for a moment, they looked up, somewhat puzzled, and asked, "General, is the army still in a relatively safe position..."

"Sure my foot!" Wei You shouted, sounding quite exasperated. "Look at our formation, it's completely out of shape! How many troops can you possibly muster? If the Great Azure Rhinoceros attacks with all its might, are you really confident you can stop it?"

The two commanders in front of him both looked embarrassed.

However, after hesitating for a moment, one of them turned to ask, "Wei, we're marching along the mountains. Even if Xin Qiji is incompetent, he wouldn't have led his cavalry here, would he?"

"Are you a tapeworm in the belly of the Great Blue Rhinoceros? You dare to guarantee that?!" Wei You was about to continue his rage when he heard the sound of horns from the front lines, followed by the sound of horses' hooves that seemed to drown out the roar of the Yellow River.

"coming!"

Wei You turned pale and immediately made the decision that a qualified general should make.

"Gather your troops as quickly as possible! Form ranks immediately! Form ranks!"

As the drumbeats changed, the flags in the Song army began to change frequently, but it was already too late.

“The hills are numerous, which is not conducive to the cavalry’s movement, and they will also divide the infantry.” Xin Qiji said to his cousin Xin Wenyuan with a smile, “Although this Song general surnamed Wei makes quick decisions on the battlefield, how can he possibly gather his troops together?”

Xin Wenyuan looked back at the more than three hundred armored cavalrymen who had changed horses and lined up in formation, and then at the large formation composed of more than three thousand Song soldiers. He felt a little apprehensive.

Although the Song army's formation had become scattered after being subjected to the pressure of the terrain, the lure of wealth, and the charge of armored cavalry, it was precisely because of this that their numbers appeared even greater, creating a sense of boundless vastness.

Seeing this, Xin Qiji simply comforted him, saying, "Wen Yuan, you will follow behind me and observe my actions according to my flags!"

Xin Wenyuan was not Zhang Wenyuan after all, and nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

With a great battle imminent, Xin Qiji naturally paid little attention to his cousin's thoughts. He simply raised his long spear and shouted loudly in front of the three hundred Flying Tiger cavalrymen who were already in formation: "The King of Han has established a kingdom! The Great Han has been rebuilt! Today is the first battle of the Great Han Dynasty. With my Flying Tiger Army, we are invincible!"

Xin Qiji's voice was loud and clear, momentarily drowning out the clanging of weapons. The somewhat exhausted Flying Tiger cavalry immediately rallied, raising their weapons and shouting.

"The Great Han!"

"The Great Han!"

Having temporarily boosted morale, Xin Qiji did not linger any longer, raising his long spear high and slowly moving forward.

The Flying Tiger Cavalry behind him roared into action, forming small formations of a dozen men each, and three small formations forming a slightly larger cone-shaped formation, like the sharp teeth of a shark biting at the Song army.

The Song army thought this was another feint attack and immediately made a show of force to intimidate the enemy. However, this time the Flying Tiger Army showed no mercy and with unstoppable momentum, tore through the Song army's sparse formation and trampled the hundreds of men who tried to block their way to the ground.

After tearing through the front lines, Xin Qiji charged like a sharp spear into the Song army's rear. The second-line Song troops were completely caught off guard; in their panic, nearly a thousand Song soldiers collapsed before the battle even began.

In such narrow terrain, the routed troops had nowhere to go and could only flee backwards.

Once the tide of fleeing soldiers formed, it was simply beyond the control of Wei You, a mere commander. His five or six hundred direct troops were like leaves in the wind, swaying precariously under the onslaught of the fleeing army.

"General! What should we do now?!"

"General, let's follow General Zuo's advice and retreat into the mountains!"

"General, you need to make a decision!"

Amidst the chaotic noise, Wei You shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have come this time."

The guard was taken aback: "What?"

Wei You looked up to the sky and sighed: "The court has undergone a major upheaval, with disloyalty both inside and outside the court; generals have been replaced on the eve of battle, leading to mutual suspicion between superiors and subordinates; the troops have been hastily dispatched, resulting in a lack of unity among them. How can we possibly win a battle?"
The Emperor Emeritus, the officials of the court, Grand Commandant Shao and Grand Commandant Li were all wrong! I was wrong too…”

The guard, not quite understanding the national strategy, paused for a moment before urging again, "General, what should we do now?"

Wei You looked at the blue rhinoceros banner that was driving away the surging, routed army, and shook his head with a bitter smile: "Surrender."

A moment later, the Wei banner was lowered, and hundreds of armored soldiers knelt down to surrender.

Xin Qiji watched this scene unfold, but he had no intention of rallying the routed soldiers or accepting their surrender. Instead, he led the Flying Tiger Army to flank the routed troops from the side and charge towards the very center of the front line.

Upon seeing this, Wei You felt even colder inside.

Xin Qiji was indeed a military strategist. Instead of advancing directly into the Song army's central camp along the rugged hilly terrain on the southern slope of the Lüliang Mountains, he planned from the very beginning to completely defeat the Song army's 10,000-strong vanguard!

Having figured this out, Wei You had no more thoughts. He simply took off his armor, slumped to the ground, and quietly waited for someone to take him in.

At the same time that Xin Qiji defeated the right wing of the Song army, Chen Wenben also defeated the left wing and easily captured Shao Shixiong, Shao Yanei, and led the defeated troops to sweep towards Zuo Shiyuan's troops.

In comparison, even the most capable front-line army did not hold out for long. After being hit by the fleeing troops for a quarter of an hour, the left-wing banner was cut off, and the entire army collapsed.

At this point, the nearly 10,000 Song troops deployed at the front completely collapsed.

However, the location where they scattered was extremely unfavorable, or rather, it was the very place that Xin Qiji had chosen for the decisive battle.

Here, the Yellow River juts out to the north, while the Lüliang Mountains extend southward, leaving only a narrow passable plain less than two miles wide.

When the routed troops passed through such a narrow area, the resulting crowds were like a tsunami.

Liu Si, marching at the forefront of the second column, had his face powder completely washed away by sweat. He didn't bother to ask for reinforcements or report the military situation. He immediately ordered his troops to change from marching ranks to square formations to deal with the onslaught of the fleeing army.

The armies of Lianghuai were all elites who had experienced several major battles and were well-prepared, so they changed formations very quickly.

However, due to the terrain limitations, the more than 3,000 Song soldiers immediately blocked the official road after they were deployed, leaving no gaps at all.

The routed troops, having lost their armor and weapons, fled to the front of the main formation, hoping for a way out, only to be met with a hail of bullets and arrows, which only made them more frustrated.

Many people even cried and shouted directly in front of the battle.

"Little Sanzi! I see you! I'm your own uncle! And you're pointing a spear at me?!"

"Old Lu, let me in! The people behind me are all brothers from Liuhe Town! Don't you want to have a place in front of your fellow villagers?!"

"I am Jia San from Luzhou! Do people from Luzhou dare to shoot arrows at me?!"

They were all comrades-in-arms of the Lianghuai Army, many of whom were acquaintances and could even call each other by name. The Song army could not bear to suppress the fleeing soldiers by massacre, and the morale of the army began to waver.

Seeing this, Liu Si, drenched in sweat, said to his guard with a wry smile, "Go and tell Li Huozi immediately that I can only hold out for another quarter of an hour at most. Whatever he wants to do, do it quickly. If our army collapses, we will still have to rely on them to save our lives!"

(End of this chapter)