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

Chapter 153: Mounting a Horse and Crossing the River to Defeat the Mad Hu (I)

The next day, August 17th, when it was still dawn, the first floating bridge was built across the Yishui River.

This caused a stress response from the Jin army. First, the scouts reported back, and at the same time, the scouts gathered together, each gathering a dozen people, and then fought each other.

But once the Loyal Army launches its attack, how could they be forced back by a group of scouts?
The armored cavalry, already excited by their achievements, crossed the river quickly, and under the personal leadership of Zhang Baiyu, they skipped the stage of exchanging bows and arrows and charged directly with spears.

It is said that when the Jurchens founded their country, they made an accurate assessment of the Liao and Song armies: these people could fight quite well in long-range bow and crossbow duels, but once they encountered close combat, as long as the brave vanguard of the Liao and Song armies were killed, no matter how many people they had, they would immediately collapse.

But the Jurchens today are also facing the same problems that the Liao and Song dynasties faced in the past.

Who would want to die when you can enjoy such a great country?

These nearly one hundred Jurchen scouts gathered together, even when the army was defeated and was chased for more than a hundred miles by the Xin army, still dared to explore the enemy formation in groups of two or three. It can be said that they were extremely brave and courageous.

But when they faced the desperate charge of the loyal army's armored cavalry, their first reaction was to withdraw from the battle and fight with bows and arrows.

Of course, the scouts' duty is to bring back news, not to engage in frontal combat, so there is nothing wrong with their actions.

But today is a life-and-death battle. We only have this one chance to stop the Loyal Army from crossing the river at the lowest cost. The next chance will be a head-on decisive battle on flat ground!
These Jurchen scouts were the elite of the army, and they naturally knew about these things, but they still escaped.

It was easy to give up the bridgehead position.

More than a hundred Jurchen light cavalry were chased by more than thirty loyal army armored cavalry and had no way out. After more than ten of them were killed, they completely gave up the resistance, galloped away on horseback, and fled.

"Bah, what a bunch of cowards." Zhang Baiyu lifted his collar and spat at the backs of the Jurchen light cavalry. He raised his spear and circled it above his head. The small triangular flag embroidered with the Baiyu symbol fluttered in the wind. He gathered more than 30 armored cavalry who were about to chase them out and withdrew them to the bridgehead of the pontoon bridge.

His biggest task today was to clear the river bank and create conditions for the subsequent landing. He couldn't ignore this vital duty just because of a few riders.

Soon, the remaining armored cavalry successfully crossed the river under the leadership of Liu Huai.

After this floating bridge was built to transport materials, the second and third floating bridges were soon built.

At this time, a large group of Jurchen cavalry finally appeared in Cangcheng, three miles west of the floating bridge.

However, Liu Huai keenly discovered that this cavalry team of about 500 people was in a semi-out-of-control state when they appeared.

They were obviously still exhausted, and many of their war horses were still covered in dust and blood, but they spared no effort in riding and harassing with bows and arrows, and simply rushed towards the bridgehead as if they were risking their lives.

At this time, Luo Shenyan's troops had already crossed the river with 300 long spears. Although they were scattered at the three bridgeheads of the pontoon bridges, under the cover of the armored cavalry, they formed into formations in groups of dozens, and then followed the orders of the team leader, shouting "Carry it and eat it!" and pressed forward with all their might.

These Jurchen cavalrymen actually began to directly attack the spear formation formed by the loyal army infantry.

How can this be broken through?

With the support of the armored cavalry, the Jurchen cavalry quickly retreated, leaving behind more than 20 corpses.

After this small setback, the Jurchen cavalry seemed to have regained their consciousness. Under the organization of officers at all levels, they lined up north of the pontoon bridge and took turns harassing the loyal army crossing the river.

But this harassment is pointless.

After the thousand spearmen of the Loyal Army formed up with their backs to the river, two hundred archers, led by Wei Chang, crossed the river. The Jurchen cavalry dared not shoot at the archers of the Loyal Army anymore and retreated one after another.

The infantry of the Loyal Army, accompanied by the armored cavalry, pressed forward again, again oppressing the Jurchen cavalry's space for movement, forcing the Jurchen cavalry to retreat to the northwest again.

...On a high ground further north of the battlefield, Li Yizhenjin dismounted, pulled the arrow out of the dead Jurchen scout, then fumbled in his arms, compared the golden hairpin he found to the sunlight, smiled, and put it into his arms.

Xin Qiji stared intently at the battlefield, observing Li Yizhenjin's actions from the corner of his eye. He said coldly, "Yelü Erlang didn't send you here for this little bit of gold and silver. If you don't show up, how are you going to explain this to your leader when you return?"

Li Yizhenjin bared his gapping teeth and said, "Don't you still have me, my dear? How can someone like me see anything?"

As he spoke, Li Yizhenjin sighed inexplicably, his voice becoming deeper: "Even if I could figure it out, how could I learn from it?"

"Oh?" Xin Qiji seemed very curious about what this Hu man was thinking and turned around and asked: "Why can't the Tianping Army learn from him?"

Li Yizhenjin also mounted his warhorse and ordered two personal guards to stand guard around him. "Xin Wulang, please look at the sun."

Xin Qiji glanced at it and said, "Liu Dalang's timing of sending out his troops was very accurate. The Jin thieves can only face the sun to fight. So what..."

At the end, Xin Qiji seemed to understand something and his voice became low.

Li Yizhenjin didn't notice and said, counting on his fingers, "We just arrived. I calculated the distance. Liu Dalang didn't arrive until yesterday morning at the earliest, and he could have sent out his troops this morning. Hiss... this means..."

Xin Qiji interjected, "This means that either Liu Dalang completed the material preparations and boosted morale within a day, or the loyal and righteous army was always ready to go, and Liu Dalang's men had made all the preparations while he was away.

In Liu Dalang's words, a sound organization from top to bottom will not delay important matters just because one person disappears."

Li Yizhenjin nodded: "Lord Xin, no matter which one is terrible, no matter what it is, the Tianping Army cannot do it."

As he spoke, Li Yizhenjin pointed to the battlefield in front of him.

"And these soldiers, the blue ox and white horse, I really can't understand how Liu Dalang and that loyal and righteous army, Duke Wei, trained them. They are so neat, well-coordinated, and their morale is so high."

"Look at those one hundred spearmen. They came down from the pontoon bridge and formed a spear formation in just thirty seconds. And they were able to march forward in unison. My goddamn..." Li Yizhenjin rubbed his bald head and grinned. "My goddamn scalp is tingling. Mr. Xin, what about you? Are you afraid? How many of our Tianping troops do you think those two thousand men can defeat?"

Xin Qiji remained silent, his eyes fixed on the battlefield.

At this time, about four hundred spears formed a large horizontal formation and slowly advanced toward the north. With the assistance of dozens of armored cavalry on the left and right wings, they continued to suppress the Jurchen cavalry's space for movement.

After closing to a distance of about one hundred steps between the two sides, the flags in front of the Loyal Army's spear formation were waved vigorously, and a gap about ten steps wide appeared in the spear formation.

Hidden behind the spear formation, more than a hundred armored cavalrymen who had been walking with their war horses suddenly rushed out along the crack, and with an indomitable momentum, they smashed into the Jurchen cavalry that was several times their number.

The Jurchen cavalry had originally only been harassing the infantry with arrows and mobility, but at this moment they were suddenly charged by the armored cavalry and were caught in close combat. They were immediately thrown into panic, and some of the Jurchen cavalry did not even have time to change to spears before they were run over by the armored cavalry of the Loyal Army.

In a panic, the Jurchen cavalry retreated again, leaving behind dozens of corpses of men and horses.

But the surprising thing was that although the Jurchen cavalry was in such a mess that their formation was somewhat disorganized, they still did not flee in panic.

"Xin Langjun, did you see that? What Liu Dalang's cavalry can do, we Khitans really can't do. But what their infantry can do, such as the Lin Army, the Tianwang Army, and even your Xinzi Army, which one can do?" Li Yizhenjin shook his head. "There's nothing we can do. There's really no way. The Tianping Army can't learn it."

Xin Qiji then pointed to the armored cavalrymen who were covering the retreat of the spearmen back to the main formation and said, "That flag has a tiger with wings on its ribs, a flying tiger. Liu Dalang's nickname is Liu Feihuzi. This must be Liu Dalang himself leading the army to break through the formation."

Li Yizhenjin murmured, "No wonder."

After saying this, he pinched his chin and asked, "This is strange. The Jin bandit cavalry has been defeated so badly, why don't they just collapse?"

(End of this chapter)