I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 101 The One Wearing the Yellow Robe is Fang La (8,000-word chapter)
Two full days passed after the outer city of Hangzhou was breached.

It was already the end of the tenth lunar month, and the first light snow of early winter had already fallen. Winter seemed to have arrived particularly early in Jiangnan this year. Normally, Hangzhou would never have seen snow at this time of year.

The official residences, treasuries, and households in Hangzhou's outer city had been hastily looted. At most, a few corners remained, but the bulk of the wealth and goods were completely gone.

The fire had not yet been set because Fang La's army still wanted to search further. This greedy hesitation saved most of the buildings in Hangzhou City, preventing them from having to be completely rebuilt from the ruins after the war.

At most, some already flammable and dilapidated buildings were accidentally burned down even though Fang La's army had not deliberately set the fire. However, this proportion accounted for less than 20% of Hangzhou's area.

Early in the morning of the third day after the outer city was broken, Zhao Zicheng's troops, who came from Haining, together with Yang Zhi, Lin Chong, Lu Da, Li Jun, Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong, and Wang Ziwu, the commander of Xiuzhou who had recently arrived to reinforce, finally arrived at the suburbs of Hangzhou with a total of nearly 10,000 troops.

Before the Battle of Haining a few days ago, Zhao Zicheng's army had a total strength of 8,000 people. Some of them were killed in the fierce fighting, and the proportion of minor injuries was relatively high. Many wounded soldiers could not return to the team quickly, so the number of troops that could directly participate in the decisive battle was reduced by several percent.

The victory at Haining also emboldened the government forces surrounding Jiangnan. Wang Ziwu, the commander of the Xiuzhou army, was not under Zhao Zicheng's control and had been relatively restrained in his pursuit. Seeing Fang La's imminent defeat, the government forces, like everyone else, joined in the fight, becoming even more enthusiastic.

With the addition of the Xiuzhou soldiers, a fresh force that was not elite, the total number of troops Zhao Zicheng could dispatch increased instead of decreasing, reaching 10,000 people.

At this moment, Zhao Zicheng was somewhat like Xiang Yu after the Battle of Julu. The Jiangnan government troops, who had previously been "watching from the sidelines," were willing to follow him and gain merit. Even though the court system required them to be independent of each other, when they actually reached the battlefield, they were willing to obey Zhao Zicheng's orders.

At that time, Xiang Yu nominally had no right to command the coalition forces of the princes, but who made the coalition forces voluntarily submit to him?

Zhao Zicheng's army marched eastward from Haining for about forty miles, advancing along the northern foot of Linping Mountain until they reached the halfway point in the mountain just north of Hangzhou City. The mountain suddenly broke off and the terrain suddenly became flat, forming a pass.

This place was called "Qinghe Weir" in the Song Dynasty. It is where the Grand Canal and Shangtang River meet, roughly corresponding to Kangqiao Street in Gongshu District in later generations.

After Zhao Zicheng's troops arrived at Qinghe Weir, they reorganized themselves and prepared for a decisive battle with Fang La. At the same time, in order to avoid the trouble of crossing the river before the battle, Zhao Zicheng must cross the Shangtang River in advance, and the entire army set up camp south of the Shangtang River.

Fang La had also discovered Zhao Zicheng's westward advance. He knew that defending the city was pointless, as the government reinforcements would only increase if the situation dragged on. So he took the initiative to march out of Hangzhou's north gate, Wulin Gate, and advanced ten miles north along the Grand Canal, encamping near Gongchen Bridge to confront Zhao Zicheng.

The two armies marched along the Grand Canal, with Zhao Zicheng in the north and Fang La in the south, deploying tens of thousands of troops. A decisive battle was imminent.

The northernmost end of the entire battlefield is bounded by the Shangtang River, the southern end is bounded by the Gongchen Bridge, and the east side is bounded by the Grand Canal. There is a semi-mountainous area east of the canal, making it difficult to deploy troops. The west side of the battlefield is very open and has no obvious boundaries.

The entire battlefield was about seven or eight miles deep from north to south and more than ten miles wide from east to west.

"Fang La chose the west bank of the Grand Canal as the main battlefield to deploy his troops, which shows that he is already timid. He is prepared to flee if he cannot win the battle.

If we line up our troops in Hedong, once he is defeated, he will have to cross the Grand Canal while being pursued by our army if he wants to escape back to the mountainous area of ​​western Zhejiang. How many casualties will that cause?
Now we can directly line up in Hexi. If we are defeated, we can just flee westwards. There are no mountains or rivers blocking us. Isn’t that wonderful? Fang La has even thought of this. It will be difficult for him to survive this battle! "

Before the battle, Zhao Zicheng personally inspected the battle formations of both sides, accompanied by Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong, Lin Chong and other cavalry generals. After reviewing the battle, Zhao Zicheng pointed at Fang La's army with the tip of his whip and made the following analysis.

Liu Han and other generals all agreed with this and nodded frequently, their confidence becoming stronger.

"The judge is truly a master of foresight. He can see through even Fang La's fear. This villain will be defeated today!"

After Zhao Zicheng inspected for a while, the Fang La army on the opposite side had already formed its battle formation.

The number of Fang La's soldiers fighting today is at least five times that of the government troops, and the scale of the formation looks extremely large.

Fang La also stretched out his army as much as possible, making the front width very wide, and the west side far exceeded Zhao Zicheng's army formation, appearing to encircle the government army from the west and south.

As for the north and east, because the battlefield was bordered by the Shangtang River to the north and the Grand Canal to the east, Fang La's army, no matter how many he had, could not cross the river to fight, so he could not encircle the enemy. Fang La deliberately left those two sides open, perhaps hoping to exploit Zhao Zicheng's disadvantage in forming a back-to-the-water formation and maximize the losses if Zhao Zicheng collapsed.

If Fang La had blocked the other side of the river as well, Zhao Zicheng's men would not have dared to flee if they failed to fight effectively, knowing that they would die if they jumped into the river and swam to the other side. Leaving the other side of the river unblocked was intended to encourage Zhao Zicheng to jump into the river and escape.

Zhao Zicheng saw all of this, of course, but he didn't care. He firmly believed that after a series of victories, his army's morale was high enough that they would not retreat easily.

As the two armies became increasingly tense, Zhao Zicheng did not intend to launch the first charge, so it seemed that Fang La's side would lose patience and charge first.

Before Fang La charged, Zhao Zicheng still stood on his horse with his spear in hand, and appeared in the front line in person, with a group of scolding men, mocking Fang La's army in various ways, trying to seize the last opportunity to unilaterally attack Fang La's morale.

"Fang La, you old scoundrel! Do you think you can stop the imperial army by leaving 10,000 men to guard me in the Haining camp? Look carefully at this head, do you recognize it? This is Wang Yin, the general you left behind in Haining. He followed a fool like you, so he can only accept his fate.

"My Haining camp is backed by the Qiantang River. Can you surround us from three sides by land? I want to break out. I can easily get behind him by ferrying him in the middle of the night, attack him from both sides, and destroy him in one battle! If you still have any sense of honor, send someone to take this head back!"

Fang La originally did not intend to argue with Zhao Zicheng anymore, because he had already experienced Zhao Zicheng's eloquence during the battle of Haining a few days ago. He knew that as long as he gave the other party a chance to speak, he would definitely not be able to win, and in the end it would even undermine his own morale.

But Zhao Zi said that this guy was still shameless and provoked, and even took out the head of the main general of Fang La’s army who surrounded the camp in Haining to show off. This really shocked and angry Fang La, and he had no choice but to respond.

If we continue to play deaf and dumb, and the soldiers of Fang La's army see that their comrades were killed by the enemy general's conspiracy, and the Holy Lord doesn't even say a word, then what's the point of fighting?

Fang La could only send someone to retrieve the head first, while casually cursing a few words to delay time and divert the attention of both sides: "Zhao family thief, stop being so arrogant! You have violated the biggest taboo of military strategy today. You have formed a battle formation with your back to the water and are surrounded by our army. You will surely die without a burial place!

Do you think you're Han Xin? Han Xin's back-to-the-water formation was based on his ability to circumvent and attack the main camp at Jingxing. What do you have? I've got all your men trapped here! Without a detachment to attack, what's the point of learning the back-to-the-water formation? You're courting death! Soldiers, the Zhao family's thieves will undoubtedly be defeated today!"

Fang La had read some historical stories. After all, he was a local lord and had some knowledge.

He hadn't planned these words from the outset; they were simply impulsive, forced by Zhao Zicheng's humiliation and ridicule. He naturally thought of Zhao Zicheng's current predicament and used ancient allusions as an analogy, hoping that Zhao Zicheng's soldiers would understand and realize that they were in a very unfavorable situation.

But Zhao Zicheng burst out laughing after hearing this: "Fang La, you don't think that just because you've heard some folk stories, you're well-versed in the classics and the art of war, right? Comparing your knowledge of the art of war with mine is simply courting death! Don't you know where I come from?"
"Frog in the well! You only know about Han Xin's formation of his back to the water, but haven't you ever heard of the King of Chu's burning his boats and breaking his cauldrons?"

When there are some troops going around to steal the base, it is called forming a formation with one's back to the water.
There is no evasive force to sneak around and steal the base, and the whole force must be relied upon to fight head-on and defeat the enemy with one's own strength. That is called burning the boats and crossing the river.

Zhao Zicheng's casual words immediately calmed down the government soldiers who were originally a little suspicious.

In these verbal battles, momentum is the most important thing. Whoever speaks more naturally and calmly can make his people believe that they are the ones who used the trick and the enemy was the one who fell into the trick. That is enough.

As for whether Zhao Zicheng was Xiang Yu or Han Xin, it doesn’t matter at all.

Zhao Zicheng was obviously the calmer and more relaxed one.

Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers were moved by Zhao Zicheng's fearlessness and spontaneously shouted: "Burn the boats! Burn the boats!"

The sound slowly spread from Zhao Zicheng's side, and more and more soldiers followed suit, all spontaneously, without any orders from officers.

The Fang La army on the opposite side was shocked when they saw this. Their momentum became even weaker before the battle even started.

Fang La was also furious when he saw this. He dared not wait any longer and immediately urged the entire army to charge indiscriminately.

"Tongpan, the enemy army is charging, quickly return to the central army formation and take charge!" Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong were also a little nervous when they saw this, and asked Zhao Zicheng to return to the formation so that they could repeat the defensive counterattack routine of the previous few days.

Although the counterattack a few days ago was based on the advantages of the terrain, with the camp walls, wooden palisades, antler chevaux de frise, and trenches, which could have blocked Fang La's offensive movement, today there were no such advantages, and it was just a fair field battle.

Zhao Zicheng also keenly glanced at Fang La's offensive. In the few hundred steps that the enemy rushed forward, he quickly made a judgment:

"Don't count on a defensive counterattack! This is a different time. Back then, our army had a strong camp to rely on, and the soldiers naturally hoped to hold their ground and repel the enemy. Today, there are no camps or antler barriers. A stubborn defense will only lead to a gradual decline in morale.

Fang La dared to charge like this, which meant they were certain that we would defend and counterattack because we were outnumbered. Given this, our army must take the initiative and attack unexpectedly! Fang La relied on his superior numbers to extend his army so far to the left and right wings, but what was the point?

There is the Shangtang River to the north and the Grand Canal to the east. He cannot cross the river to attack from both sides. It is a waste of troops to deploy so many troops on both wings. He wants to outflank the enemy but cannot do so!

Our army will do the exact opposite, gradually shrinking both wings and squeezing Fang La's numerical advantage into a ball with nowhere to deploy. We will gather our main force and elite troops, break through the center, and cut Fang La in two!"

Zhao Zicheng also understood the art of war. He certainly knew that the side with more people and more power on the battlefield liked to outflank the enemy from both wings. They took advantage of the wider front of their own battle line to trap the enemy on both sides, eventually forming a siege.

But today's battlefield was restricted by the river, and there was no way around it. As long as he retreated a little on both wings, the enemy troops who wanted to go around would gather together, and there would be no place to go even with so many people.

In contrast, the side with fewer people can make up for the disadvantage in local battlefield strength to the greatest extent as long as it gathers enough reserves and makes a desperate attempt to break through a single point.

Zhao Zicheng made a prompt decision and ordered Yang Zhi and Lu Da to lead the troops to hold the outermost positions of the left and right wings. At the same time, he ordered the wing troops in Huzhou and Xiuzhou to serve as the reserve troops behind Lu Da and Yang Zhi, and to gradually replenish the line.

With relatively elite veterans as the backbone, subsequent reserve forces will not easily collapse, and their resilience will be increased several times.

At the same time, Han Shizhong, Liu Guangshi, Lin Chong and others, as well as all the Western Army cavalry and the most elite infantry spearmen, were concentrated by Zhao Zicheng on a small section of the central army line to launch a counterattack.

Furthermore, Liu Guangshi and Han Shizhong were not theoretically under Zhao Zicheng's command; they belonged to the Western Army faction. However, Liu Guangshi was simply captivated by Zhao Zicheng's charisma and willingly accepted his orders and fully cooperated with his plans on the battlefield. There was nothing that could be done about it.

As the two armies were about to clash, the government army's rain of bows and arrows had already splashed on the heads of the rebels in the front row, causing a rain of blood. Han Shizhong and Liu Guangshi were also ready to rush forward and take advantage of the situation to expand the results of the battle.

But Zhao Zicheng remained remarkably calm. Even at this crucial moment, he was still adjusting his deployment: "Brother Liu, don't worry! Let Han Wu go first. Split into three teams, front and back. Narrow the front line and attack in stages! Once the front team's momentum weakens, the rear team can find an opening in the enemy's ranks to reinforce!"

Zhao Zicheng knew very well that if his hundreds of Western Army cavalry rushed forward in a flat manner like sprinkling pepper on the ground, they would not be able to break through the layers of formations.

In this case, we should maximize the guiding principle of concentrating superior forces! Make the breakthrough area narrower and narrower.

For the same force, the smaller the contact area, the greater the pressure!

Han Shizhong had not participated in the Battle of Shanghai and Ning, having only made a small appearance in the Geling liaison battle. He was very excited upon hearing this and immediately led nearly 200 cavalrymen in a desperate charge. Furthermore, they formed a wedge formation, with the spike at the head of the wedge being Han Shizhong himself.

Han Shizhong had long envied Liu Guangshi's feat of beheading Fang Qifo during the Battle of Haining, and it was said that Liu Guangshi had even received numerous commendations from Tong Guan for this feat. Han Shizhong had no strong foundation, so he naturally wanted to achieve this feat and completely turn his fortune around.

"Death befall you, thief! Death befall me!"

Han Shizhong, wielding his enemy-killing bow from horseback, fired a barrage of powerful arrows straight ahead, striking directly through the simple wooden shields used by Fang La's frontline infantry, killing and wounding the enemy. The Fang La soldiers facing him were stunned, instinctively dodging to the left and right, throwing their formation into disarray.

Han Shizhong looked at the deployment of the opposing army and became more determined, and rushed forward without fear.

In today's battle, Fang La used the front-line charging soldiers, who were basically sword and shield soldiers. They were equipped with short swords, waist swords and shields made of wooden boards nailed together, without even any leather covering technology.

The reason why Fang La made such an arrangement was that he took into consideration that spearmen and other two-handed long weapons were not conducive to quickly charging and approaching the enemy, while short weapons such as swords and shields were much more flexible.

The government troops' long-range firepower far surpassed the rebels'. They possessed a large number of powerful bows and crossbows, while the rebels lacked any. Fang La had to ensure that the first wave of troops charging forward had sufficient shields to defend against long-range firepower, so as to avoid being shot down too many times during the engagement, which would lead to low morale.

As for the fact that the sword and shield soldiers had a disadvantage in terms of weapon length and were not as good as the spearmen in hand-to-hand combat after engaging the enemy, Fang La could no longer take care of this for the time being.

His strategy was to "let the sword and shield soldiers charge in the first wave, then stick to the enemy after engaging them, forcing both sides into a melee, rendering the enemy's long-range bow and crossbow firepower ineffective. Then, let our own spearmen follow up and engage the government army's spear formation in a stabbing confrontation to consume their strength." In Fang La's view, the sword and shield light infantry that were deployed at the beginning were consumables; they only needed to stick to the enemy to achieve their goal. As for how the sword and shield soldiers would retreat after sticking to the enemy, and how to free up attacking positions for the spearmen in the rear, Fang La had never considered it at all.

As long as these sword and shield soldiers were killed or wounded in the end, there was no need to consider retreating. It was like the joke in later generations that Iraqi pilots only needed to learn how to take off and not how to land, because they were all performing one-time missions from which they would never return.

But Fang La never expected that the government army would not choose to defend and counterattack this time, but instead immediately sent a small number of elite cavalry to launch a counterattack. This tit-for-tat approach was really inconsistent with Zhao Zicheng's previous battle routine.

Why did Zhao Zicheng suddenly not play according to the expected routine?

The sword and shield soldiers, who primarily relied on short weapons, were at a disadvantage when facing the cavalry's charge. If they had a spear, they might have been able to withstand the cavalry, but with only short swords, the battlefield quickly turned into a one-sided massacre.

As for the shields in the hands of the rebel soldiers, they could indeed defend against the sabers, but Han Shizhong's soldiers didn't need to swing their swords at all. The galloping horses weighing over a thousand pounds would just charge forward, and no matter how hard the shields were, they would be useless.

After Han Shizhong shot several people with a series of arrows and tore open a gap, he hung the bow on the saddle, picked up the big sword and swung it left and right. No one could match his sword, and he killed more than a dozen bandits in a row.

The Western cavalry behind him also followed up bravely, constantly tearing and widening the gap. In this local battlefield, Fang La's army soon showed signs of retreat.

Liu Guangshi, who was in the reserve, was about to charge forward when Zhao Zicheng calmly stopped him. "Wait! Brother Han's attack is already fierce enough. As the last reserve, you should conserve your energy first."

Then, Zhao Zicheng asked Lin Chong to lead the most elite infantry spear teams in the army to charge forward.

Spearmen move relatively slowly and find it difficult to maintain a dense formation when running fast. They must be more dispersed to avoid colliding with each other. Therefore, Zhao Zicheng did not expect Lin Chong's soldiers to join the front-line assault. He only asked Lin Chong to hold the two sides of the gap torn open by Han Shizhong to prevent the killed Fang La army bandits from flowing back and blocking the gap.

Lin Chong quickly understood the commander's combat intentions, and silently led his troops forward to charge and plug the leaks.

This kind of "infantry-cavalry coordination" is somewhat similar to the later "infantry-tank coordination", but only at a microscopic level.

The so-called infantry-tank coordination does not mean that the infantry really have to follow the tanks and rush forward, hoping that the tanks will block the bullets. Those are all made up in war movies for the sake of a good scene.

In true infantry-tank coordination, the infantry must be at least quite far behind the tanks, and their mission is simply to occupy the two flanks of the gap created by the tanks, preventing the enemy from returning and re-closing the gap opened by the tanks.

At this moment, Zhao Zicheng's request to Lin Chong was similar to this, but it was many times more microscopic than the infantry-tank coordination in later generations.

That is, this can only be tried when facing a mob like Fang La that is temporarily gathered. If it is against the elite Jin soldiers, this trick will be completely useless and will cause serious disconnection on one's side, and even lead to death.

Most of Lin Chong's spear team are veterans who have followed Zhao Zicheng for more than a year. They have followed him since last year when he was still the magistrate of Gusu County. Therefore, the military discipline is very strict, the morale is high, and their personal loyalty to Zhao Zicheng is extremely high.

These soldiers fearlessly carried out Zhao Tongpan's orders and fought to the death. Even though the gap was very deep, their own army formation was very thin, and the rebel soldiers rushing from both wings were endless, Lin Chong still led the spearmen in a fierce battle.

As long as Han Shizhong opened a gap, Lin Chong would defend it for another ten feet and would never let Fang La's army return to reinforce the defense.

Fang La's reinforcements rushed towards Lin Chong from both sides like a tide. Lin Chong fought fiercely on foot, waving his spear. The spear covered his body like falling snow, which could not be penetrated by a needle or splashed by water.

The comrades around him were all as still as a mountain, and no matter how the enemy attacked, they never retreated.

Once you break through the enemy formation, don't even think about getting back in. This is called breaking through the formation!
The ambition to be trapped in a battle will lead to death but not life.

Han Shizhong charged forward like a mad tiger, hacking and slashing recklessly, slaughtering countless enemy soldiers. The Fang La bandits on this local battlefield gradually grew frightened, and their resistance became increasingly disorganized. However, human power has its limits, and Han Shizhong was no ironclad machine, so the momentum of his attack gradually waned.

Zhao Zicheng saw the right opportunity and asked Liu Guangshi to rush forward with the remaining cavalry reserves. He ignored other directions and focused on the gap torn open by Han Shizhong to continue expanding the results of the battle.

Fighting a war is never a straightforward matter of spreading the seeds of war.
The goal is to maximize the local military advantage!

Take advantage of the enemy's illness to kill him. When you see the enemy is lame, keep kicking the lame leg hard!

Zhao Zicheng also launched a charge along with Liu Guangshi, and also ordered his flag to follow.

When the officers and soldiers of both armies saw Zhao Zicheng's flag move, the government troops shouted loudly and started a fierce battle, the sound was like thunder.

The rebels were terrified, especially the rebels on the two wings who were far away from the central battlefield. They had no idea what was happening in the middle.

Liu Guangshi's spear was flying, and he was full of energy. His speed in killing enemies was not inferior to that of Han Shizhong, who was gradually exhausted.

Zhao Zicheng was not to be outdone, and he shot out a sharp spear like a dragon. As he charged, his sharp eyes saw Fang La's yellow umbrella swaying in the wind, not far ahead.

Zhao Zicheng suddenly had an idea and shouted, "The one wearing the yellow robe is Fang La! Generals, follow me to capture Fang La!"

After a few loud shouts, the soldiers around him followed suit.

"The one wearing the yellow robe is Fang La! Capture Fang La!"

The rebel officers and soldiers were all confused, and many of them subconsciously turned their heads to look behind them, wanting to know whether the Holy Archbishop's flag formation had really been charged by the government troops.

Fang La was even more shocked and angry. Zhao Zicheng had clearly not posed a threat to him yet, so how could he have the nerve to shout like that?
He was furious and shouted to his men, "Don't panic! The central army is fine! Zhao Zicheng hasn't rushed over yet!"

But how far could Fang La's cry alone spread? Fang La's central army couldn't all shout in unison, "The Holy Lord is fine!" That would only make it seem like they were trying to cover up their mistake.

The soldiers of the two armies in the distance could only see Zhao Zicheng's central army flag moving forward, while Fang La's flag formation stayed in place without moving.

As we all know, when Zhao Zicheng launched the charge, his own flag formation did not necessarily appear at the forefront. It is possible that the positions hundreds of feet in front of him had already been torn apart by the government troops. Therefore, when Zhao Zicheng's flag was so advanced, it is very difficult to imagine how much progress the government troops had made.

Ordinary soldiers cannot see the overall information of the battlefield at all, especially those who are far away. They can only roughly guess the result based on experience and the position of the flags.

Zhao Zicheng clearly felt that the enemy army was becoming more and more chaotic after his call, and he couldn't help but feel overjoyed. He continued to spread rumors and shouted: "You dog thief Fang La, don't run away! Abandoning your flag and formation and fleeing alone is nothing! You are a coward without balls!"

The rest of the Song cavalry who followed the raid quickly spread Zhao Zicheng's call. The Fang La soldiers in the distance did not know the truth and became increasingly confused.

Han Shizhong and Liu Guangshi both felt that the pressure in front of them seemed to have eased a little, and they were greatly encouraged for a moment, as if the strength they had consumed in the previous battle had returned.

As one side gained strength while the other lost, Fang La's central army was actually pierced by Han Shizhong. Han Shizhong didn't know how long he had been killing, but he suddenly felt the pressure in front of him was relieved and his vision became clear.

He actually rushed to the back of the enemy camp, and there were no enemy soldiers around him.

Han Shizhong was overjoyed and quickly looked back to find Fang La's flag formation, and then he was about to take his brothers to attack Fang La from behind.

"Brothers, follow me and cut off the retreat of Fang La the bastard! Kill him!"

Han Shizhong roared like a tiger, and regardless of the seven or eight arrows shot from ordinary soft bows stuck in his iron armor, he looked like a Shura ghost, and he turned his horse's head and rushed towards the rear of the enemy formation.

The soldiers of Fang La's army were originally on guard toward the front or the side, but they were caught off guard by Han Shizhong who killed them from behind. They were immediately thrown into chaos, and rows of them were chopped down by Han Shizhong and his men.

When several of his trusted generals saw that the situation was not good, they could not tell how many government troops had broken through the formation. They hurriedly persuaded Fang La:
"Holy Lord, leave quickly! We will fight to the death to cover your retreat!"

His trusted general Li Tianrun roared and whipped Fang La's horse's buttocks with a whip, protecting Fang La from breaking out. He himself went straight towards Han Shizhong who was charging at him from behind the formation.

A few days ago, he had intercepted Han Shizhong on West Lake and was shot with an arrow by Han Shizhong's enemy-killing bow. Even though he was wearing heavy iron armor, he still suffered some injuries. Fortunately, the injury was only muscle damage and did not penetrate the ribs to injure the internal organs, so he recovered after seven or eight days of rest.

Li Tianrun had always been deeply ashamed of the battle at West Lake that day, and he felt that Han Shizhong must be very good at archery, so he wanted to fight him in hand-to-hand combat to avenge his previous shame.

Now that he had to protect the Holy Archbishop and help him break out, he naturally ran into Han Shizhong head-on. With new and old grudges and mission tasks piling up together, Li Tianrun also mustered up all his energy and was determined to fight Han Shizhong to the death.

"Although I still have some minor injuries, the enemy general must be exhausted after fighting his way through the army. His condition is definitely worse than mine. If I don't kill him now to avenge him, when will I?"

Li Tianrun was thinking this, but his men did not slow down at all. They immediately raised their long spears and stabbed Han Shizhong with all their might.

"Come on!" Han Shizhong also roared, and with extremely fierce momentum, he fought back with every move desperately.

When the weapons clashed, there was a teeth-grinding sound of metal clashing, and the violent echo shocked the surrounding soldiers.

"This man has already fought his way through the army, how come he still has such endurance?" Li Tianrun immediately felt that Han Shizhong's strength seemed to be endless, and his endurance was beyond imagination, and he couldn't help but be shocked.

Han Shizhong was not known for his explosive power, but his endurance was truly amazing. After a series of fierce battles, his condition did not decline significantly. Otherwise, Han Shizhong in history would not have been able to fight and pursue Fang La continuously and not let go. His ability to fight mobile warfare and attrition warfare was truly top-notch at the turn of the Song Dynasty.

Li Tianrun originally hoped that the opponent's lack of endurance could make up for his own injury, so that he could still fight.

At this moment, he discovered that Han Shizhong had amazing endurance. He felt that he had miscalculated and his courage began to wane.

When two meet on a narrow road, the brave prevails. Li Tianrun, shaken by these few thoughts, quickly fell into a disadvantage and was severely suppressed by Han Shizhong. The battle between masters is based on a single thought; if you lose one step, it will be difficult to recover.

Li Tianrun was caught off guard and endured more than twenty moves. His spear skills became increasingly disorganized. Finally, Han Shizhong summoned up his remaining courage and shouted loudly, killing him with a single blow of his sword.

While Han Shizhong was beheading the general, Liu Guangshi, Zhao Zicheng, and Lin Chong also killed and dispersed Fang La's trusted guards led by Li Tianrun. The generals continued to shout loudly:
"Fang La has run away! Don't let Fang La go! The one wearing the yellow robe is Fang La!"

Zhao Zicheng, Liu Guangshi and Lin Chong all used long spears and were unable to cut off the flagpole, but Han Shizhong used a broadsword.

While shouting, he suddenly had an idea and led his team to charge towards the flag that had been abandoned by Fang La. He used the horse's power to swing his sword and directly cut off the flagpole.

As Fang La's yellow flag was cut down, the Song army's shouts of "The one wearing the yellow robe is Fang La" became louder and louder and spread.

More and more Fang La soldiers on the battlefield finally believed that the Holy Archbishop had really run away. Their morale completely collapsed and they all retreated.

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PS: Let me clarify a small issue. Some people have always felt that it is a pity that Fang La’s generals were killed after they lost.

I think that many of the Liangshan generals at least have historical prototypes, while most of Fang La's subordinates only appear in "Water Margin" and don't even have historical prototypes. Reshaping them after accepting them is also quite disjointed. This is because Shi Naian originally created these characters to serve as material for the Liangshan generals to kill.

In fact, I don’t want to use all the people on Liangshan. First of all, those with bad character will not be used. Secondly, those who really have no historical prototype and cannot even be found through hearsay will be shown as little as possible.

Therefore, the tone of this book is that there is no historical prototype at all, and Shi Nai'an wrote it purely for the purpose of killing the rebel generals. So I will not collect them. I will just kill them as consumables to advance the plot and use them as material for the protagonist's generals to make meritorious deeds.

(End of this chapter)