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

Chapter 146: When time comes, heaven and earth all work together

When the Jin army soldiers fought against the Xin army soldiers who had just come to support them, they were almost instantly at a complete disadvantage.

The reason is certainly not that Liu Huai is invincible.

This is because these well-rested soldiers of the Xin Army are all veterans holding axes.

The broadsword is a specialized armor-piercing weapon. Except for warriors with extraordinary courage and strength like Wang Dewang Yaksha during the Jing Kang period, ordinary cavalrymen would not be equipped with it.

Cavalry weapons emphasize lightness and speed. Their spears and bows, combined with the galloping speed of their horses, are already powerful armor-piercing weapons. In close combat, they also have short weapons such as bone balls, iron maces, and hand knives. Carrying a large axe is useless except for adding weight.

However, once the armored cavalry dismount and fight against the armored infantry, it would be really unnecessary to let them fight with bone clubs less than three feet long and long-handled axes.

More importantly, if the 10-foot-long spear wants to be most effective, it has to rely on the formation. Although it has just broken through the spear formation of the Xin army, it has also messed up its own spear formation.

Therefore, when the Jin army faced the sudden attack of the long-axe armored soldiers, nearly thirty casualties occurred as soon as the battle began.

This number is even greater than the casualties caused by the spear fight just now.

After Liu Huai took the initiative, he continued to advance, his long sword swung like flying, and he chopped at his opponent's head with every blow, forcing Pushandama to defend himself while retreating in embarrassment.

Without a warhorse to speed up, the long sword in Liu Huai's hand certainly could not cut through the armor, but the killing power of this heavy long weapon does not rely solely on the sharp blade. As long as it hits the body, even through heavy armor, it can break bones and tendons.

Pushandarmo's arms were numb and his breathing was uneven, as if all the fatigue of the past few days had burst out at this moment, but he still found the opportunity when Liu Huai's long sword fell and threw the bone flower in his hand. Then, without looking at the result, he held the hand sword with both hands, roared like a tiger, stepped forward and chopped it down.

Liu Huai dodged the bone flower that was coming towards him by leaning sideways, then twisted his body and squatted down. His long sword turned half a circle with his body, drawing an arc. He let Pushandarmo's hand sword chop down and leave a spark along his shoulder armor, then he slashed the long sword fiercely on the side of his opponent's waist and abdomen.

Pushandarmo slashed at the air with his sword, and the middle door was wide open. He was hit hard without any defense at all. Although he was protected by armor, he still felt the pain excruciating. He couldn't even hold the sword in his hand, and it fell to the ground with a clang. For a while, he could only stagger back.

"Prefect!"

"General!"

Pushandarmo's personal guards were all shocked and rushed forward to take the attack of the long-axe soldiers, covering Pushandarmo's retreat.

Pushandama was about to command the soldiers to advance, but when he heard the horn behind him, he looked back and saw Wang Xiongyi, who stayed behind, rapidly beating the gong. He could not help but be extremely surprised.

At this time, Yelu Xingge's Khitan light cavalry had already set off. They abided by the requirement of "harassing the enemy if they stay" and began to harass the remaining Jin army cavalry in the rain.

But the Jin army has nearly a hundred armored cavalry left behind, and the Khitan light cavalry is only a few people. Can't you, Wang Xiongyi, deal with them?

But Pushandama also understood his nephew and knew that Wang Xiongyi would not show any weakness unless the situation was extremely critical or even an irreversible crisis.

To put it bluntly, since Wang Xiongyi thinks they should retreat at this time, then they should really retreat.

"Form a formation! Retreat!"

Pushandharma covered his ribs and shouted orders.

But things were not that simple. When the Jin soldiers attacked, they were unstoppable and everyone had to avoid them. But if they retreated, if they showed weakness, even the unarmored infantry of the Xin army dared to pursue them.

This is exactly what is meant by "one thing grows while another grows."

Jin soldiers were constantly tripped, fell into trenches, or got entangled in fishing nets, or simply became so angry that they wanted to fight to the death with the Xin army, but because the rest of the Jin army was retreating, they were outnumbered and were chopped to the ground by axes.

At this moment, the fatigue and panic accumulated over the past few days completely broke out, causing the Jin army to almost withdraw from the battle in a defeated manner.

It was only because Wang Xiongyi personally stepped forward to provide support that Pushandama was able to escape in a panic.

He raised his eyes and counted, and found that more than half of the 200 soldiers he had just led to attack the Xinzi Army camp had been lost, and he couldn't help but feel heartbroken.

This is not to say that the Xin army suddenly became extremely powerful and killed so many soldiers, but because of their hasty retreat, the Jin army who were only injured and trapped were unable to provide support and were captured and killed by the Xin army with its superior military strength.

"Wang Xiongyi, including the reinforcements coming soon, you will have nearly a thousand cavalrymen at your disposal. Are you still afraid of the Khitan dogs' two hundred light cavalrymen?"

Wang Xiongyi had just helped Pushandama onto the horse when he was whipped in the face.

But Wang Xiongyi's expression remained unchanged. Despite the dark red scar that stretched from his forehead to the corner of his mouth, he spoke calmly, "Sir, there is no support left."

Pushandarmo was stunned: "What did you say?"

Wang Xiongyi: "There's no support. I just received a message that those two old men, Shuhu Ali and Jiagu Shou, only led their troops one mile north before turning back south. Governor, it's ridiculous that we still want to use them as chopping blocks, but we don't know that they have already made up their minds to sell us out..."

Pushandarmo, not knowing whether it was due to the severity of his chest and abdominal injuries or the shock of the news, actually staggered on his horse. After a moment's silence, he finally uttered a wry smile, "I... I actually thought they would be motivated and rush forward after seeing me successfully defeat the bandits. Now it seems that they haven't even lost the courage to fight?"

Wang Xiongyi was silent again for a moment, then, despite the fact that the war was still going on, he spoke directly, "Taishu, I am a Han Chinese, so I can see things clearly. You said before that the Jurchens' great nation of thousands of miles was built through bravery and strength, but wasn't that also true of us Han Chinese? Then why is the north now completely occupied by the Jurchens?"
If the Han could decline, why couldn't the Jurchens? Did the Jurchens have two more arms and four more heads than the Han?

Decline is not a big deal. When you're in decline, there are ways to deal with it, just like these Han rebels and bandits: gather your forces, train your troops, and then fight back. But the governor still refuses to acknowledge the Jurchens' decline, instead relying on them for victory. This is a grave mistake. Governor, you must understand that this isn't thirty or forty years ago! These are my sincere words, and I hope you'll reflect on them!"

After saying that, Wang Xiongyi actually knelt down and kowtowed in front of the horse.

Pushandama knew that his abandonment of He Boqiu not only made He Boqiu completely disheartened, but also made his own confidants feel grief for him. Although he was already disheartened after the defeat, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

At this moment, the governor of Yizhou could only sigh on his horse: "Get up, let's go back to Linyi to clean up the situation!"

After saying this, Pushandharma turned his horse around and walked into the misty drizzle.

Wang Xiongyi got up from the ground, patted the dirt on his body, looked back at the cheering Xinzi Army camp again, and glanced at the Khitan light cavalry on both wings of the camp that were eager to fight. He got on his horse with a calm expression and drove away.

At 9:00 a.m. on August 14, after less than half an hour of fighting, the Jin army in Yizhou's final attack completely failed. With the Jurchen cavalry leading the escape, the army was completely routed.

At this time, it was only two and a half days since the Jin army in Yizhou ambushed the 100,000-strong Tianping army and turned it into an avalanche.

(End of this chapter)