Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

On the other side, Yang Yun also led his cavalry, abandoning their horses and circling around the hillside to the battlefield.

Seeing that there was no way to reverse the situation, Wanyan Zongfu ordered, "Sound the horn and retreat!"

Yang Zaixing and Gao Biao were still rolling and fighting, both of them possessing immense strength, and they were evenly matched.

But in the end, Yang Zaixing was the better player. In the midst of the rolling and wrestling, he finally gained the upper hand.

Gao Biao lay on top, and Yang Zaixing lay on the bottom, but Yang Zaixing's right arm was tightly wrapped around Gao Biao's neck.

Gao Biao, his face flushed from suffocation, reached out to pry Yang Zaixing's arm open.

Yang Zaixing, however, grabbed his right hand with his left and exerted force with both arms.

Gao Biao kicked his legs frantically, but his strength waned, and he was finally strangled to death by Yang Zaixing.

Chapter 3417 Heavy Casualties

The retreat horn of the Jin army had been sounded, but the Jin heavy cavalry and elite cavalry, who were entangled, found it difficult to extricate themselves from the battlefield.

In this battle, the Ming cavalry suffered heavy casualties.

However, half of the Hezhamengan that Wanyan Zongfu had left was lost—Wanyan Zonghan still had some.

What did Wanyan Zongfu rely on to intimidate the armies of various ethnic groups?

We'll rely on these elite troops!

Half of the Heza Meng'an were lost, along with hundreds of Jurchen cavalrymen. Gao Biao, loyal to the Jin Dynasty, also died.

Will those tribal leaders who already harbored rebellious intentions be able to keep things under control?

"Anyone who can still fight, come with me and we'll hunt them down!"

Yang Yun was furious and roared for his cavalry to regroup and fight again.

When he was in Chengdu, he followed Deng Chun, and when he was transferred to the north, he followed Chen Ziyi.

Three years ago, he finally led troops on his own and was transferred back to the northern suburbs of Kaifeng to be responsible for building the third cavalry corps of the Ming Dynasty.

These cavalrymen were the culmination of his hard work; the officers and soldiers were all elites from various armies.

As a result, nearly a thousand people were killed or wounded in the first battle, which drove Yang Yun almost crazy with anger.

In fact, the Jin cavalry suffered even greater casualties.

More than 200 of the Hezha Meng'an were killed in battle, more than 600 of the Jurchen elite cavalry were killed, and more than 500 of the Bohai elite cavalry were killed.

All of these thousand-plus gold cavalrymen were killed in action!

And what about the Ming cavalry? They suffered nearly a thousand casualties.

During the battle, more and more Ming cavalry surged forward, and the Jin cavalry at the front were all trapped inside.

Yang Yun and Li Shifu dismounted and fought on foot, flanking the Jin cavalry from the hillside, turning them into easy targets.

There were still sporadic battles at the valley entrance, all of which were Ming troops surrounding and killing Jin soldiers.

In order to capture warhorses, the Ming army even stopped cutting off the horses' legs.

Several Ming soldiers, wielding long spears, surrounded and stabbed a Jin soldier, knocking him off his horse. Then they swarmed him and quickly killed him.

The Ming soldiers were already enraged; they didn't want to capture prisoners, they wanted to kill them on the spot to vent their anger.

As the battle was winding down, Yang Yun, Li Shifu, and Yang Zaixing had already led their cavalry to regroup.

The Ming cavalrymen lying on the ground, whether wounded or killed, were quickly carried to the hillsides on both sides to prevent friendly forces from accidentally stepping on them.

"Report! Our troops are all on the main road."

"Follow me and hunt down the enemy!"

“Woooooooo~~~”

At Yang Yun's command, the warhorse slowly trotted across the battlefield, passed the valley entrance littered with corpses, and immediately accelerated forward.

At this moment, Liu E led his troops and ran at breakneck speed.

He guessed from the battle just now that Wanyan Zongfu had led his core elite troops in an ambush.

Out of fear of Heza Meng'an, Liu E dared not step forward and instead watched the entire battle from the rear with his tribesmen.

Now that the Ming army has won, Liu E is terrified, worried that the Ming army will blame him for not putting in the effort.

In the upcoming battle, Liu E plans to go all out.

Even if more than half of his clan soldiers were killed or wounded, he still had to earn a reputation with the Ming army.

With such a long delay, the Jin cavalry had already fled far away.

Wanyan Zongfu grew increasingly desperate. Not only could he not defeat the Ming army's firearms and chariot formations, but even in cavalry battles, the Jin army suffered defeats.

Although the Ming cavalry had a larger number of troops, the Jin cavalry ambushed and launched a surprise attack, and were led by Heza Meng'an.

He felt extremely guilty and regretful, realizing he shouldn't have blocked the Ming army at the valley entrance.

Instead, they should have ambushed the Ming cavalry on both sides of the valley, waiting for half of the Ming cavalry to rush out of the canyon before leading their troops to attack the Ming army from both sides.

Perhaps we can win.

Wanyan Zongfu did not do that because the Jin cavalry numbered only slightly over two thousand.

The Ming cavalry far outnumbered this number; if they were to fight outside the valley, it was uncertain who would emerge victorious.

There was no other way; most of the Jin soldiers had fled, and Wanyan Zongfu could only bring this small force to block them.

If it were the Song or Liao army, they would have been terrified and fled on the spot after being charged by the Jin cavalry.

Even if they didn't collapse on the spot, it would be impossible for them to charge forward with their lives on the line.

At this time, the Jin cavalry in the front ranks could calmly retreat and take turns charging with the cavalry behind them, and the Jin army would be defeated after repeated attacks.

Little did they know that the Ming army was fearless, rushing forward to entangle the Jin soldiers at the risk of their lives, and more and more soldiers continued to attack.

This rendered the Jin cavalry's tactics completely ineffective in narrow terrain.

"Go in through the barbican!"

Wanyan Zongfu shouted that the Ming cavalry had caught up.

Wanyan Xiyin, who was in charge of defending the city, also ordered the soldiers on the city wall: "Draw your bows and shoot the enemy!"

The Jin cavalry had already fled back to the city, and those still outside the city were all heavily armored warriors and horses of the Hezhameng'an.

They run slowly.

"Shhhhhh!"

The moment Heza Meng'an escaped across the moat, thousands of arrows were shot from the city walls.

"Blow the horn! Halt!"

The Ming army gradually reined in their horses and stopped, watching as the enemy entered the barbican.

Yang Yun said to Yang Zaixing, "Your troops have suffered heavy losses. Retreat to the canyon you just left to rest and wait for the Emperor to bring the main force."

"I will lead my troops to keep watch here."

He then said to Li Shifu and Liu E, "You take your troops and pursue them to the northeast. There should still be defeated soldiers there."

"Don't chase them too far; return immediately upon hearing the bugle call."

Chapter 3418 Defeated Soldiers

"Yes!"

The three men each accepted their orders and departed.

There were indeed defeated soldiers to the northeast.

Wanyan Zongfu and Wanyan Xiyin personally arranged the city's defenses, so they didn't have time to count the number of people, and in the dark, they couldn't count them all.

"Wang Zheng! Where is Wang Zheng?"

Just as they were deploying troops to arrange the city's defenses, they suddenly discovered that the local warlord Wang Zheng had disappeared.

On Hesuguan Road, the Wang family was second only to the Gao family.

They were previously relocated to Youzhou, but were moved back after the Ming-Jin peace treaty. The Wang family had several hundred elite clan soldiers and also temporarily recruited more than two thousand militiamen.

Wanyan Xiyin rushed over: "Wang Zheng and Gao Jingshan are both missing."

"Most of the militia they recruited fled back to the city, but their elite tribal soldiers all disappeared."

"It's possible... they took advantage of the chaos to go to Liaoyang."

Liaoyang...

Wanyan Zongfu was terrified: "Quickly send light cavalry back to Liaoyang, the sooner the better, and make sure the Liaoyang garrison does not open the city gates!"

It was obvious that Gao Jingshan and Wang Zheng, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the burning of the camp, each led their elite tribal soldiers and rode at full speed towards Liaoyang.

They would pretend to be defeated soldiers to open the city gates, and then launch a surprise attack to kill the Jurchen soldiers stationed in Liaoyang.

The number of Jurchen soldiers there was small, but the number of powerful clans in Bohai was countless.

With the various ethnic groups cooperating in their rebellion, they could easily wipe out the Jurchens, rescue their families, and then surrender the entire city of Liaoyang to the Ming Dynasty.

Wanyan Xiyin said, "It may be too late."

"If Liaoyang falls, without the families of various ethnic groups as hostages, the troops of all ethnic groups here at Hesuguan will all rebel."

Wanyan Zongfu, who was usually mild-mannered, was now extremely angry. He clenched his fist and said, "If they are unrighteous, then I will be unrighteous too."

"Immediately convene a meeting of generals from all ethnic groups. You are to prepare to burn the grain and fodder and lead the Jurchen warriors to evacuate."

“This is going to…” Wanyan Xiyin was stunned.

Wanyan Zongfu's tone was icy: "Kill all those powerful warlords in the city!"

As the building crumbles, each person becomes more and more insane.

Although the leaders of various ethnic groups had not discussed the matter in advance, they worked together with remarkable tacit understanding.

Gao Jingshan and Wang Zheng led their elite tribal soldiers to Liaoyang at full speed amidst the chaos to rescue the hostages.

The other powerful leaders remained at Hesuguan, seemingly to help Wanyan Zongfu defend the city, but in reality, they were planning to buy time and take the opportunity to rebel.

But Wanyan Zongfu wanted to kill all the remaining powerful generals!

The warlords who were deploying troops along the various sections of the city wall received orders and rushed off to a meeting.

The group had already taken their seats in the main hall of the government office, but Wanyan Zongfu had not yet shown up.

Just as they were filled with doubt and surprise, a loud shout suddenly rang out: "Kill!"

Shouts of killing rose from both inside and outside the government office.

The leaders drew their weapons, only to see Jurchen soldiers pouring in from all directions, firing arrows at them indiscriminately without a word.

The city was piled high with grain and fodder, but suddenly several fires broke out.

Wanyan Xiyin dispatched Jurchen officers to the barracks of soldiers from various ethnic groups and to various city walls, shouting: "The grain supplies are on fire! Go and put out the fire!"

As soldiers of various ethnic groups fled in panic, tens of thousands of Jurchen soldiers rode into the streets, opened the east and north gates, and left the city.

Furthermore, some of them rode off to kill soldiers of various ethnicities who were putting out the fire, instantly plunging the entire city into chaos.

Of the more than 10,000 Jurchen soldiers, only three or four thousand were elite.

The rest were all new recruits, with an average age of less than sixteen and the youngest being only thirteen.

They rode two horses, one person and the other two, galloping wildly towards the northeast.

Li Shifu and Liu E, who were pursuing the fleeing soldiers, were leading their troops back when they ran into the Jurchen soldiers.

The two were startled and quickly fled to the mountains, thinking that the Jin army was launching a large-scale attack.

As a result, the more than 10,000 Jurchen soldiers completely ignored them and sped towards Tangchi County.

"Fire has broken out in the city!"

"The Jin soldiers have left the city!"

Yang Yun was about a mile outside the moat when he suddenly saw thick smoke rising from inside the city, followed by a large number of Jin soldiers riding out of the city.