Fenghou

The 5000-strong spear formation was attacked by [-] cavalry from both sides of the Song Army, and a big hole was torn open at the outer edge in an instant. Li Cheng did not expect that the Song Army cavalry was so sharp, so he immediately invested another [-] spear troops. They put down their crossbows, picked up their spears, and turned into spear soldiers.

Three thousand spear troops rushed up from behind, roaring and pounced on the Song Army cavalry, cutting the Song Army cavalry who was attacking from the front into two sections.

Li Cheng invested the last [-] soldiers of the Spear Army and did the same to intercept the Song Army cavalry attacking from the side into two sections.

Tang Qian shouted: "Order the army to disperse!"

"Woo--" the horn sounded, causing the flag to wave.

The cavalry suddenly disintegrated into nine cavalry teams from two armies, which made the enemy's cut-off meaningless. The nine thousand cavalry ran like nine dragons interspersed in the enemy's large formation. Gradually dismembered and dispersed.

At the same time, Li Cheng also issued an order to split up the [-] spears into a hundred spear squads, fighting under the command of a capital, more flexible and more tacit cooperation.

Both sides gave full play to their training level, but the Song army was cavalry after all, like a strong man fighting a young man. The disparity in height and strength made the Song army gradually gain the upper hand, and the casualties of both sides increased, but the infantry was obviously casualties were even more severe.

At this time, a cavalryman came rushing to report, "Report to Jiedushi, our cavalry has suffered heavy casualties, and we are about to lose our strength."

The infantry could barely hold on, but the Donghu cavalry was no match for the Song cavalry, with nearly half of the casualties. Although the Song cavalry also suffered heavy casualties, the enemy was retreating steadily, and the Donghu cavalry was almost unable to hold on.

Seeing that the situation was critical, Li Cheng immediately ordered: "Blow the horn and call for an ambush!"

Originally, he wanted to wait until the last moment to fight out, but the situation had forced Li Cheng to send troops ahead of time.

"Woo-woo-woo--"

The low-pitched horn sounded, and the [-] infantry who had been lurking several miles to the south suddenly rushed out and rushed towards the battlefield.

The Song army scouts on the periphery immediately found out, and they rushed to report, "General Tang, there are enemy ambushes in the south, more than [-] people have already killed them!"

Tang Qian looked to the south, and saw the enemy soldiers rushing to kill here, and the situation was not good.

He immediately ordered: "Go and inform General Liu, requesting an immediate retreat!"

Some cavalry rushed to report to Liu Qiong. Liu Qiong was also taken aback. Ten thousand fresh troops would surely reverse the situation. He immediately ordered: "Issuing an order to withdraw troops!"

Nine gunpowder arrows were launched into the sky in succession and exploded continuously in the air, notifying each commander to lead the troops to withdraw.

Teams of Song Army cavalry turned around and retreated westward, covering each other, and quickly left the battlefield. This is also an important tactic that Song Army soldiers must train, a retreat tactic.

While running, they shot back at the pursuing enemy army with bows and arrows. More than a hundred Donghu soldiers who were chasing after them were hit by arrows and fell off their horses one after another, scaring the rest of the Donghu cavalry who were about to pursue them to quickly rein in their horses.

Li Cheng ordered: "Pass on my order, don't pursue!"

He has rich experience. The opponent is not defeated but retreats. If he pursues him, the team will be too long, and he will be killed by the opponent instead.

Both sides suffered heavy casualties in this battle. The Song army killed about 5000 people and injured more than [-] people, while the Jin soldiers killed nearly [-] people and injured more than [-] people.

Why are there fewer injuries but more deaths? This kind of fierce battle has no way to withdraw the wounded soldiers. Once injured, the combat effectiveness will drop, and they must be the first to die. Only when they retreat at the end can the wounded survive under the protection of their companions.

After removing the casualties of the 2 cavalry of the Song Army, only [-] cavalry were left, while the opponent still had more than [-] soldiers. The strength of the two sides was so disparate that Liu Qiong had to temporarily withdraw his troops to the south and retreat to Ye County, the southernmost part of Ruzhou, is waiting for another chance to attack.

At the same time, scouts were sent to Henan Province to report the battle situation. Not long after the Song army was forced to retreat to the south of Ruzhou, Chen Qing personally led an army of [-] to Yique Pass.

Yiqueguan is located in the remaining veins of Xionger Mountain in the south of Yique Town. Yishui passes through the mountain to form a large canyon. Yiqueguan is located at the dangerous entrance to the north of the canyon. Ten miles away is Ruzhou.

Chen Qing stood on the pass and looked at the Yique Grand Canyon in the distance. He saw strange peaks and cliffs, clear water like belts, and fishing boats on the water. entry.

At this time, Chen Qing saw a caravan driving more than a hundred donkeys coming from the canyon, so he told his left and right: "Bring the caravan leader here, I want to ask him."

The caravan entered the pass, and not long after, an old man was led in front of Chen Qing. He knelt down and saluted, "My nickname is Zhong Ping, and I greet His Royal Highness King Yong!"

Chen Qing signaled his soldiers to help him up, and asked with a smile, "Where does the old man come from?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, the villain came from Yingchang Mansion."

"Since you came from Yingchang Mansion, do you know about the war in Ruzhou?"

The old man nodded, "The villain passed through Longxing County, and he did know that a big battle happened nearby."

"How is the battle going?" Chen Qing asked anxiously.

The old man was a little embarrassed, and said after a while: "I heard that the Song army was no match for the Jin army, and retreated to the south!"

This news was really beyond Chen Qing's expectation. Liu Qiong's army was actually defeated, which also showed that the enemy's reinforcements were very strong.

Chen Qing immediately sent an order, "The army goes south to Liang County, a hundred miles away!"

Chapter 987 Another Battle

Not long after the [-] army set off, the battle report sent by Liu Qiong also arrived. Chen Qing ordered the soldiers to rest in place and set up a marching tent.

In the big tent, after Chen Qing read the battle report, more than 500 people were killed and 5000 were injured, which adds up to [-] people.

"What is the situation of the wounded soldiers now?" Chen Qing asked.

The soldier who reported the letter said: "Report to Your Highness, the treatment in Ye County is mostly minor injuries!"

Chen Qing nodded silently, and he also understood why most of the injuries were minor, and it was difficult to evacuate from the battlefield with serious injuries, so there were more casualties than wounded soldiers, and that was the reason.

Chen Qing then wrote a reply letter and gave it to the messenger soldier, and rewarded another ten taels of silver, and the messenger soldier went to thank him.

"Your Highness thinks that Li Cheng will try his best to protect Ruzhou?"

The person who asked the question was Gao Ding, who was in charge of the capital, and this time he followed Chen Qing to the expedition as a lieutenant general.

Chen Qing nodded, "Taking Ruzhou, the Northwest and Southwest of the Central Plains will be connected together, Henan Mansion and Dengzhou will be able to respond to the battle, which will have a major impact on the entire Central Plains situation, how can Wanyan Wushu not see this a little?

On the contrary, if Ruzhou cannot be taken, the enemy can attack Henan Prefecture in the north and Dengzhou in the south, and our army will be quite passive. We know this, and Li Cheng also knows it well. If Ruzhou is bound to be a tough battle. "

"Then how can we assist General Liu?"

Chen Qing said indifferently: "Repay the body with the way of others!"

……

After Liu Qiong reorganized the army, he went north again. The force was still 2, [-] infantry and [-] cavalry. This time he did not bring supplies. The whole army took six days of dry food and went northward quickly.

At noon the next day, we were still 5000 miles away from Longxing County. The scouts from the front came to report that 5000 miles away, we found about [-] main enemy troops, including about [-] cavalry.

Tang Qian said to Liu Qiong: "I'm afraid this is another reunion in Zaolu County! They also went south to Ye County."

Liu Qiong sneered, "It's very possible, but what I'm more concerned about is, are there really only 5000 of them?"

Tang Qian thought for a while and said, "We can send scouts to investigate, but we'd better find the reinforcements sent by His Highness, tell them the situation, and let them deal with the possible ambushes of the enemy."

Liu Qiong nodded, and immediately sent out two scouts, the first scout was responsible for detecting possible ambushes of the enemy army, and the other scout was looking for their own reinforcements.

The army immediately stopped marching and waited for the arrival of the enemy.

Li Cheng's army on the opposite side also spotted the Song army twenty miles away almost at the same time, which was really beyond Li Cheng's expectation.

Li Cheng's army rested in Longxing County for a few days and added [-] infantry. At the same time, Li Cheng also received an order from Wanyan Wushu, asking him to eradicate the Song Army in Ye County and not give the Song Army a chance to fight back.

So when Li Cheng got the news of the Song Army, he was really a little shocked. He thought that the Song Army was still resting, but he didn't expect to go north to fight back.

"Order the whole army to slow down, reorganize the team, and keep the formation moving forward!"

Li Cheng did not dare to underestimate the enemy, and sent spies to look for traces of the enemy's ambush on both sides.

The two armies were getting closer and closer, and the distance was only three miles, and the Jin soldiers also stopped moving forward. The area where they confronted each other was wheat fields and plains, which was very suitable for combat.

The weather was gloomy, the wind was strong, and the battle flags of both sides were flapping. The two armies were about five miles across, with spears like forests, full of murderous aura. Among the Jin soldiers were Donghu cavalry, about 5000 people, still led by Xiao Jilie .

This Eastern Hu cavalry no longer had the incomparable prestige before the last battle. Their strength was no match for the tenacity and sharpness of the Song army. In the last battle, nearly half of the [-] cavalry suffered casualties. Some listless, exceptionally silent.

On both sides are two infantry formations, each with 1 people.

At this time, the horn of the Song Army sounded, and the [-] troops began to advance. The Song Army also formed a formation with two wings, with [-] infantry in the middle and [-] cavalry on the left and right.

"Ugh-"

The attack horn sounded, "Boom! Boom! Boom!" The war drums rang loudly, and the Song army rushed like a sea tide, and the two cavalrymen were like two sharp daggers.

Li Cheng shouted: "The crossbow army is ready to shoot, and the spear army holds their ground!"

Two crossbow armies of 3000 men each stood on the left and the other on the right. The soldiers lined up neatly, and the crossbow arrows of the six thousand armies pointed coldly at the rushing Song army.

'Woo——' A clear horn sounded suddenly from the north.

Li Cheng was startled, and turned his head to look to the north. He was scared out of his wits. Several miles away, a huge cavalry appeared in the distance. It was densely packed, ten miles wide, and there were at least [-] cavalry. The battle flag flying in the wind is the red-bottomed black dragon flag of the Western Army.

"Woo! Woo!"

The horn sounded continuously, and the cavalry of the Song army in the north suddenly started, overwhelming the back of the golden army formation, and the golden soldiers were in chaos.

Li Cheng raised his sword and shouted, "Don't mess up, hold your ground, and no one is allowed to retreat without authorization!"

"Jiedushi, the Donghu cavalry has retreated!"

The morale of the five thousand Eastern Hu cavalry broke down first, and they ignored Li Cheng's orders, rushed out of the formation and ran eastward for their lives.

Li Changchang sighed, this is like an avalanche, as long as one army collapses first, the other armies will also collapse soon.

Li Cheng had no choice but to order: "Order the whole army to quickly retreat to the east!"

Before his order could be handed down, the avalanche of morale caused by the escape of the Eastern Hu Army caused the morale of the [-] troops to collapse instantly. The [-] troops in the east retreated first, followed by the [-] troops in the west rushing forward. .

The orderly retreat that Li Cheng expected didn't happen. The whole army was in a state of disintegration. Everyone was running on their own, desperately fleeing. They wished that others would run slower, let alone throw away their helmets and armor, and throw away all the heavy objects that hindered their escape.

Leather armor, helmets, spears, knives, crossbows, shields, water bottles, dry food, military blankets, etc., except for the copper coins and silver in his arms, all other items were thrown away cleanly.

Li Cheng was also protected by hundreds of soldiers. He beat his horse and fled eastward. He quickly overtook the soldiers, but he couldn't catch up with the Donghu cavalry.

The [-] enemy soldiers ran wildly, but they couldn't outrun the cavalry of the Song Army. The [-] cavalry led by Tang Qian surrounded from the south, and the [-] cavalry led by Gao Ding surrounded from the north, and soon formed a twenty-mile wide encirclement circle. Shrinking quickly, the Song Army cavalry shouted: "If the Han people don't kill the Han people, those who surrender will not die!"

The desperate soldiers knelt down and surrendered one after another. It was useless for them to resist. They lost all their weapons and armor. What resistance did they have?Even if you are unwilling, you can only surrender temporarily.

Population is the most important thing now, especially the young and strong labor force plays a vital role in restoring social productivity. The Song army no longer chased and killed the deserters of the signing army, but focused on surrendering.

But for Jurchen, Khitan and other alien armies, the Western Army is ruthless and will kill them all, eliminating the opponent's war resources as much as possible. Population is the largest war resource.

……

Li Cheng fled to Kongqiao Town, fifty miles away, which is also the only way to go to the west. Li Cheng and his soldiers waited in the town to pick up the fugitive soldiers, but when night fell, only more than 1000 soldiers fled. , the other soldiers could no longer wait.

Li Cheng was terrified, and immediately led more than 1000 defeated soldiers to flee back to Xiangcheng County overnight.

Just after dawn, Li Cheng fled back to Xiangcheng County. There were 1000 defenders in Xiangcheng County, led by the commander Li Shunwu. Hearing that the Jiedu Envoy had fled back, Li Shunwu quickly ordered the city gate to be opened. The city gate opened slowly, and the drawbridge Putting it down, the anxious Li Cheng led more than [-] troops into the city like a gust of wind.

"What's the situation in the county?"

Li Cheng gasped and asked, "Has Xiao Jilie's army returned?"

Li Shunwu hurriedly said: "Qi Jiedu envoy, their cavalry came back last night, but they didn't enter the city, they directly bypassed the city and fled towards Kaifeng Mansion, probably shortly after night fell last night."

"These bastards! Cowards! Deserters! This time, you have caused me a lot of trouble, and you still have the face to complain to the fourth prince?"

Li Cheng cursed a few times, then said: "Brothers are starving, hurry up and prepare meals!"

Li Shunwu agreed, and quickly arranged for his men to cook. At this moment, a soldier shouted from the top of the city: "A cavalry is coming from a distance!"

Li Cheng was shocked, and hurried to the city to check. He saw a long black line heading towards the county town more than ten miles away. It should be cavalry. Judging by the size, there are at least 3 to [-] people.

Li Cheng shouted: "Run the alarm bell, and call the whole army to retreat from Dongcheng immediately."

The bell rang quickly, and the 1000 soldiers in the city and the more than [-] soldiers he brought back gathered one after another. Li Shunwu stepped forward and asked, "Jiedu envoy, what should we do with the food and supplies we brought? Do you want to burn them all?" ?”

Li Cheng thought for a while, shook his head and said, "Don't burn it, order the civil servants to seal up the warehouse and put a seal on it!"

A quarter of an hour later, Li Cheng left Xiangcheng County from the east gate with more than 3000 soldiers and dozens of civil servants, and quickly retreated to Yingchang Mansion.

Chapter 988 Xiangcheng

The cavalry that came to Xiangcheng was the [-] army led by Chen Qing. He ordered Gao Ding to lead [-] cavalry south to Longxing County to support Liu Qiong's army. He himself led [-] cavalry from Liang County and marched nearly [-] miles , Killed to Xiangcheng County.

Unexpectedly, it happened to meet Li Cheng's army retreating from the defeat of the official road in the south, and it was half an hour before and after.

Chen Qing led an army of [-] soldiers to the city, the gate of Xiangcheng County was opened, and the county magistrate Xu Ping led a group of county officials out of the city to welcome the Song army.

Not all county magistrates in the Song Dynasty were county magistrates. The key is to see if the county magistrate came from the imperial court to take up the post.

But if you are promoted directly from the county lieutenant or the county magistrate to the county magistrate without the title of an imperial official, then you are called the county magistrate, not the county magistrate.

Of course, the status of the county magistrate is higher. He has been an official in the capital. He came from the capital. If he has been a county magistrate for a few years, he may be promoted to magistrate. The county magistrate is more like a local snake. For general judgment.

This is equivalent to the two systems of local government. Generally, the general judge cannot be directly appointed as a prefect. He must go to Beijing to be plated with a layer of gold and wear the title of a Beijing official before he can be dispatched as a prefect.

This Xu Ping is a typical local snake. He is the eldest son of the Xu family, the largest family in Ruzhou. He was not born in the imperial examination. Xiangcheng county magistrate, if nothing happens, in three or four years, he will be the next general judge of Ruzhou.

Xu Ping didn't care who came to Ruzhou, and he didn't give allegiance to any force, he only loyal to his own family. Qing's attitude eased a lot.

"Excuse me, magistrate Xu, is there Li Cheng's army in the city?"

When Xu Ping heard that His Royal Highness King Yong had arrived in person, he became even more sincere and frightened. He bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Highness, Li Cheng fled back to the county town half an hour ago, and his foothold was not secure. The remnants fled."